Instant Reaction: Rossi picks up an assist and the OT winner in Canucks\u2019 win vs. Ducks<\/p>\n
Welcome back to Instant Reaction, the series here at\u00a0CanucksArmy<\/a>\u00a0where we give you our instant reaction to tonight\u2019s\u00a0Vancouver Canucks<\/a>\u00a0game and ask our readers to do the same in the comments section below!Starting Lineup<\/p>\n Projected #Canucks<\/a> lines vs. @AnaheimDucks<\/a> <\/p>\n O\u2019Connor. Rossi. Karlsson. Buium. Hronek. \ud83e\udd45Tolopilo\ud83e\udd45<\/p>\n 5pm on @Sportsnet650<\/a> <\/p>\n sportsnet.ca\/650<\/a> <\/p>\n First Period<\/p>\n The game started with a bang, as Radko Gudas stepped up and threw a booming (but clean) hit on Liam \u00d6hgren. \u00d6hgren\u2019s new linemate, Teddy Blueger, immediately went after Gudas, breaking his stick over the Ducks captain. On the scoresheet, that resulted in nothing more than a two-minute minor for cross-checking assessed to Blueger, but in the eyes of fans, that\u2019s the exact kind of thing you want to see from a veteran player \u2014 and any Canuck, really \u2014 when a young player gets laid out.<\/p>\n Radko Gudas makes a big hit on Liam \u00d6hgren and Teddy Blueger comes to his defence.<\/p>\n \ud83c\udfa5: Sportsnet | #Canucks<\/a> <\/p>\n Just as the Ducks\u2019 power play expired, Cutter Gauthier found himself all alone at the side of the net and ripped a shot past Nikita Tolopilo to open the scoring:<\/p>\n Cutter Gauthier opens the scoring on the powerplay.<\/p>\n \ud83c\udfa5: Sportsnet | #Canucks<\/a> <\/p>\n 1-0 Ducks.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Canucks answered back just seven minutes later when Curtis Douglas scored the first goal of his NHL career. Picking up an assist on the play, Kirill Kudryavtsev also notched his first career point. Seeing the excitement from not just Douglas, but every other player on the ice was awesome. You always remember your first!<\/p>\n \ud83d\udea8CANUCKS GOAL\ud83d\udea8<\/p>\n Curtis Douglas ties the game at one!<\/p>\n Curtis Douglas first career goal\u2705 \ud83c\udfa5: Sportsnet | #Canucks<\/a> <\/p>\n 1-1.<\/p>\n Shortly after the tying goal, Blueger and Gudas took care of their unfinished business.<\/p>\n Major props to Blueger.<\/p>\n The fights kept coming, and Curtis Douglas put himself on Gordie Howe hat trick watch when he dropped the gloves with Jeffrey Viel. Unfortunately, this wasn\u2019t the first fight of Douglas\u2019s career. $10 to the first person to tell me if there has ever been another player to pick up a Gordie Howe hat trick in the same game that he scored his first career goal (noting, of course, that Douglas still needs the assist at the time of this writing).<\/p>\n Tyson Hinds was called for tripping up Elias Pettersson, the forward, and on the ensuing power play, Jake DeBrusk once again made scoring on the man advantage look easy.<\/p>\n \ud83d\udea8CANUCKS GOAL\ud83d\udea8<\/p>\n Jake DeBrusk with yet another powerplay goal, giving the Canucks the lead.<\/p>\n \ud83c\udfa5: Sportsnet | #Canucks<\/a> <\/p>\n Canucks up by one after 20.<\/p>\n One big takeaway from the first: Second Period<\/p>\n The Canucks began the second period with some time left remaining on a power play that began at the tail end of the first, but they failed to get set up, and we were back to even strength.<\/p>\n The Ducks turned up the pressure after this, and Nikita Tolopilo made some of his best saves of the night during the next seven or so minutes:<\/p>\n Tolopilo makes another great save!<\/p>\n \ud83c\udfa5: Sportsnet | #Canucks<\/a> <\/p>\n The Canucks did a good job of supressing the Ducks\u2019 attack before they could even get the neutral zone, and their defencemen were sharp on their retrievals when the Ducks dumped the puck in.<\/p>\n The Ducks had 20 minutes left to muster a comeback and punch their ticket to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.<\/p>\n Some takeaways from the second: Third Period<\/p>\n Early in the third, Drew O\u2019Connor flipped the puck over the glass from his own end, resulting in a delay of game penalty.<\/p>\n On the ensuing Canucks penalty kill, Brock \u201cI kill penalties now\u201d Boeser pressured the Anaheim blueline, reading and subsequently chipping an attempted pass back to the point past John Carlson. Boeser was off to the races and made no mistake on his breakaway attempt, beating Dostal on the blocker side:<\/p>\n \ud83d\udea8CANUCKS GOAL\ud83d\udea8<\/p>\n Brock Boeser shorthanded extends the Canucks lead to two.<\/p>\n \ud83c\udfa5: Sportsnet | #Canucks<\/a> <\/p>\n 3-1 Canucks.\u00a0<\/p>\n Anaheim\u2019s final two regular-season games are against the Minnesota Wild and Nashville Predators, and as noted earlier, a win tonight would result in them clinching a playoff berth.<\/p>\n Cutter Gauthier got that memo, as less than a minute after Boeser\u2019s goal \u2014 with the Ducks still on the power play \u2014 he launched a one-timer that beat Nikita Tolopilo five-hole:<\/p>\n Cutter Gauthier cuts the lead back down to one.<\/p>\n \ud83c\udfa5: Sportsnet | #Canucks<\/a> <\/p>\n 3-2.\u00a0<\/p>\n Anaheim kept up their pressure, and less than two minutes later, Leo Carlsson scored a bit of a weird one. Carlsson scooped up a loose puck out in front of Tolopilo and tried to draw him out before trying to roof a backhander.<\/p>\n Carlsson\u2019s attempt went off Tolopilo and into the Canucks\u2019 net, evening the game at three.<\/p>\n The Ducks get a friendly bounce and the game is tied.<\/p>\n
\n\u00d6hgren. Blueger. Boeser.
\nDeBrusk. EP40. H\u00f6glander.
\nDouglas. Mueller. R\u00e4ty.<\/p>\n
\nMP29. Willander.
\nEP25. Kudryavtsev.<\/p>\n
\nTy Mueller & Kirill Kudryavtsev first career point\u2705<\/p>\n
-I love some of what I\u2019m seeing from Elias Pettersson (the defenceman) the lately. I get real Mattias Ohlund vibes from him; he really just needs to sharpen his decision-making and get back to being closer to the player we saw in his rookie season.<\/p>\n
-There was a shift with about nine minutes left in the second where Kirill Kudryavtsev skated the puck in with ease and jump-started a sequence where the Rossi line cycled the puck around. Kudryavtsev looked more than comfortable being involved in that \u2014 a nice sign for a young defenceman.<\/p>\n