Anaheim Ducks crushes Vancouver Canucks by 4-3 ending Canucks’ winning streak – NHL Updates
Top Loss
It looks like Vancouver Canucks winning streak finally came to an end as Anaheim Ducks pulverized them in its own Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia. An overcrowded stadium of 18,860 looked to see their home team win their seventh consecutive game,
but left with sheer discontent as Vancouver lost 4-3 to Anaheim in an extremely competitive match produced by Ducks.
This was proof that being the biggest team in the NHL is not enough to be called the Stanley Cup winners early on.
Vancouver currently being the number one team probably had never thought of losing to Anaheim which ranks seventh in the Western Conference, and that to at its home ground, the first home-defeat since December.
"We didn't play good enough", one of the Sedin twins, Henrik Sedin said. "We were sloppy for two periods. Our shifts were too long and there were too many turnovers".
Winning has helped keep Ducks in seventh place, being only 1 point ahead of Calgary and only 1 below the blazing Phoenix Coyotes.
Anaheim took hold
Anaheim Ducks was very clever to go into the match strong and strategically captured the first 40 minutes of game time, while Canucks seemed relax as if it was its right to win.
Maybe this is something good for them, seeing loss after a golden period should be a lesson from which they could learn a lot.
In the opening 56 seconds of the game, Jason Blake created a lead for Ducks, closing the first at 1-0, which tripled within 5 minutes of the second.
Brandon McMillan made it 2-0 while Bobby Ryan put up double numbers making it 25 goals for him this season, frustrating Canucks even further who were trailing 3-0 in the second period with 15 minutes left to go.
A Comeback was expected
When Vancouver finally ended its scoring drought through right wing, Daniel Sedin, scoring the last of the second period and Alexandre Burrows making it 3-2 within 6 minutes of the last, the crowd roared with joy in anticipation of a comeback that they would
always remember.
Dreams were shattered by Bobby Ryan who received a timely pass by Teemu Selanne within 30 seconds of the expected comeback.
It was 4-2 with less than 14 minutes remaining in the third.
Vancouver was unable to recover due to an exceptional performance by Ducks goalie, Curtis McElhinney, who made 34 saves, locking out the opponent.
All-Star Ryan Kesler was able to get one in at 19:39, but the effort wasn’t enough.
People suspect that such a huge win over the top team of the NHL might have been a motivational boost by the return of Ducks’ captain, Ryan Getzlaf.
Ducks has won its fourth out of the last five games now.
"The game progressed pretty well for me", Getzlaf said. "As I went along, it slowed down for me. We played a lot better as the game went on".
Only time will tell what the future holds for these teams.
Both Canucks and Anaheim will go against the scorching Calgary Flames in their next game. Calgary will host Ducks on Friday and Vancouver will be the host the next day.
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