Canucks beat Ducks 2-1 in shootout
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) Nick Bonino assisted on the tying goal by Alexandre Burrows in the second period and got the only goal in the shootout in his return to Anaheim, helping the Vancouver Canucks beat the Ducks 2-1 on Sunday night.
It was the first meeting between the teams since the June 27 trade that brought Ryan Kesler to the Ducks and sent Bonino and defenseman Luca Sbisa to Vancouver. Kesler spent his first 11 NHL seasons with the Canucks, helping them get to the Stanley Cup finals in 2011 with 41 goals and winning the Frank Selke Trophy that season as the NHL's best defensive forward.
It was the Ducks' second loss in three nights at home against a club they won all five meetings against last season. The Arizona Coyotes beat them 3-2 in a shootout on Friday.
The Ducks, who led the league in goals last season en route to their second straight Pacific Division title, have just 11 in regulation over their last eight games. Defenseman Sami Vatanen had Anaheim's only goal against Eddie Lack, who finished with 28 saves and got lucky twice in the tiebreaker as Jakob Silfverberg hit the crossbar and Kesler rang one off the left post.
Frederik Anderson stopped 34 shots for the Ducks. The loss snapped their six-game winning streak against Vancouver, which included a five-game sweep last season that ended with a 3-0 victory in goalie John Gibson's NHL debut. Gibson is sidelined at least six weeks because of a groin injury.
Corey Perry, who leads Anaheim with 11 goals, missed his third straight game because of the flu. Francois Beauchemin also was out with the flu, and fellow defenseman Cam Fowler was scratched for the first time this season due to a lower body injury that occurred on Friday against Arizona.
Just 3 seconds after Dan Hamhuis was sent off for hooking William Karlsson, Vatanen opened the scoring at 2:37 of the second period with a 35-foot wrist shot that beat Lack to the stick side after Kesler won a faceoff from Bonino deep in the zone.
The goal came on Anaheim's only power play against a penalty-killing unit that had yielded just two goals in 26 short-handed situations over the Canucks' previous eight games.
Burrows tied it at 11:49 of the second on a deflection after Hamhuis one-timed a carom off the boards at the left point.
NOTES: Canucks D Kevin Bieksa and Ducks LW Patrick Maroon dropped the gloves a mere 3 seconds after the opening faceoff. ... Kesler will get a chance to see and hear firsthand how much the Vancouver fans miss him when the five-game season series resumes on Nov. 20. ... Canucks LF Brandon DeFazio was so excited about making his NHL debut, he jumped out onto the ice for the pregame warmups ahead of Lack. It is customary for the starting goalie to lead the team out of the dressing room. ... Sbisa was scratched because of an injury that occurred in Saturday's game. ... Bonino leads Vancouver with seven goals, including back-to-back game-winners this week against Colorado and San Jose. His total is the highest among players who haven't scored on a power play. Seven of his 22 goals with the Ducks last season came with the man advantage. ... Vancouver was outshot 36-19 in each of its previous two games, beating San Jose 3-2 and losing to Los Angeles 5-1 Saturday night. ... Canucks LW Daniel Sedin needs two power play goals to tie Markus Naslund's franchise record of 114.