{"id":265013,"date":"2026-04-13T04:19:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T04:19:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/265013\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T04:19:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T04:19:14","slug":"ducks-playoff-wait-continues-after-ot-loss-to-canucks-orange-county-register","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/265013\/","title":{"rendered":"Ducks\u2019 playoff wait continues after OT loss to Canucks \u2013 Orange County Register"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Ducks<\/p>\n

Ducks players celebrate a goal by center Leo Carlsson during the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Vancouver Canucks, Sunday, April 12, 2026, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo\/Kyusung Gong)\n<\/p>\n

\"Vancouver<\/p>\n

Vancouver Canucks right wing Brock Boeser, center, celebrates his goal with center Teddy Blueger, left, during the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Ducks, Sunday, April 12, 2026, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo\/Kyusung Gong)\n<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The shot by Vancouver Canucks right wing Brock Boeser goes past Ducks goaltender Lukas Dostal, left, during the third period of an NHL hockey game, Sunday, April 12, 2026, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo\/Kyusung Gong)\n<\/p>\n

\"Vancouver<\/p>\n

Vancouver Canucks center Curtis Douglas, left, fights against Ducks left wing Jeffrey Viel during the first period of an NHL hockey game, Sunday, April 12, 2026, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo\/Kyusung Gong)\n<\/p>\n

\"Ducks<\/p>\n

Ducks right wing Troy Terry, right, shoots as Vancouver Canucks defenseman Marcus Pettersson, left, defends during the first period of an NHL hockey game, Sunday, April 12, 2026, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo\/Kyusung Gong)\n<\/p>\n

\"Ducks<\/p>\n

Ducks defenseman Radko Gudas (7) fights against Vancouver Canucks center Teddy Blueger (53) during the first period of an NHL hockey game, Sunday, April 12, 2026, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo\/Kyusung Gong)\n<\/p>\n

\"Ducks<\/p>\n

Ducks defenseman Ian Moore, left, and Vancouver Canucks center Linus Karlsson vie for the puck during the first period of an NHL hockey game, Sunday, April 12, 2026, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo\/Kyusung Gong)\n<\/p>\n

\"Ducks<\/p>\n

Ducks left wing Cutter Gauthier, center, celebrates his goal with left wing Alex Killorn, right, and left wing Chris Kreider during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Vancouver Canucks, Sunday, April 12, 2026, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo\/Kyusung Gong)\n<\/p>\n

\"Ducks<\/p>\n

Ducks center Leo Carlsson, top, scores past Vancouver Canucks goaltender Nikita Tolopilo during the third period of an NHL hockey game, Sunday, April 12, 2026, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo\/Kyusung Gong)\n<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

1 of 9<\/p>\n

Ducks players celebrate a goal by center Leo Carlsson during the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Vancouver Canucks, Sunday, April 12, 2026, in Anaheim, Calif. (AP Photo\/Kyusung Gong)\n<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a><\/p>\n

The postseason will have to wait.<\/p>\n

The Ducks\u2019 first playoff berth in eight years<\/a> was in sight during Sunday\u2019s home finale as they took on the NHL\u2019s worst team by record, the Vancouver Canucks, which was playing on the tail end of a back-to-back set.<\/p>\n

But doing things the easy way has been unbecoming of the Ducks, who fell behind by two goals, circled the wagons to force overtime but then fell in the bonus session, 4-3, off Marco Rossi\u2019s OT winner.<\/p>\n

Though the fans\u2019 chants of \u201cwe want playoffs\u201d didn\u2019t bear fruit on Sunday, the Ducks\u2019 magic number was now down to one.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve been hungry to get back in the playoffs over these last seven years. They\u2019re excited for it; we\u2019re excited for it,\u201d Cutter Gauthier said. \u201cWe fell short tonight, but we have a great opportunity to go on this road trip and get some points.\u201d<\/p>\n

They moved into a points tie with the idle Edmonton Oilers for second place in the division and were now just one back of the Pacific-pacing Vegas Golden Knights. All three teams have two games remaining.<\/p>\n

Vancouver had won just 11 of 47 games since trading franchise defenseman Quinn Hughes and only seven of its past 40 decisions. But now they\u2019ve won three of four meetings this season and 14 of the last 17 overall against the Ducks.<\/p>\n

Gauthier scored two goals, one on the power play and another right after a Vancouver penalty expired. Leo Carlsson also scored. Chris Kreider chipped in two assists. Luk\u00e1\u0161 Dost\u00e1l had 22 saves. Sunday also marked radio broadcaster Steve Carroll\u2019s final broadcast after five decades behind the mic.<\/p>\n

Curtis Douglas, Jake DeBrusk and Brock Boeser each deposited a goal for Vancouver before DeBrusk and Boeser both assisted on Rossi\u2019s game-decider. Nikita Tolopilo stopped 24 shots.<\/p>\n

In overtime, a tentative stretch broke open after a rush up ice by Filip Hronek, an overbold open-ice move by Beckett Sennecke, and a steal by Drew O\u2019Connor that forced Kreider to take a slashing penalty, setting up a 4-on-3 Ducks disadvantage.<\/p>\n

The Ducks were but two seconds from killing a penalty during which Dost\u00e1l had already made a staggering five saves, but he couldn\u2019t come up with a sixth on Rossi\u2019s blast from the right circle.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the third, we had some great shifts and great pace to the game; we could have taken over at the end of the third,\u201d captain Radko Gudas said. \u201cIn overtime, it was an unfortunate goal. We battled for the last 25 minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n

The closing stanza brought a rapid exchange of special-teams tallies, as on the same Ducks power play, Vancouver notched a shorthanded goal and the Ducks responded by cashing in 38 seconds later. They\u2019d score five-on-five to make it a new contest with 13:04 remaining in regulation.<\/p>\n

Troy Terry had not recorded a hit all season, but he was credited with two on Sunday. He laid his body on Hronek behind the net, causing the puck to come in front for Kreider. His shot generated a rebound for Carlsson, who patiently waited out Tolopilo to flick a score-leveling backhand for his 29th goal of 2025-26.<\/p>\n

Before that, Boeser disrupted an exchange between Carlsson and John Carlson, blowing past the latter for a breakaway that saw him stickhandle until Dost\u00e1l dropped down, allowing Boeser to roof the puck.<\/p>\n

But 5:05 into the frame, Gauthier became the first 40-goal scorer for the Ducks since Corey Perry in 2013-14 off a one-timer from just above the right faceoff dot.<\/p>\n

Gauthier is just the fourth Duck to reach the 40-goal mark in a season, joining Perry, Paul Kariya and Teemu Sel\u00e4nne.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a huge milestone and something I\u2019m very proud of, but I couldn\u2019t have done it without all my linemates and teammates,\u201d Gauthier said. \u201cIt was fun to get that, but that\u2019s not why I\u2019m playing hockey. I\u2019m playing hockey to win games and eventually win a Stanley Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n

A scoreless second period was carried analytically by the Ducks, in terms of both scoring-chance volume and quality. They nearly netted an equalizer late. Mason McTavish\u2019s downward tip got through Tolopilo\u2019s wickets but careened across the crease and wide. Canucks defenseman Zeev Buium sent a laser through traffic that Dost\u00e1l ensnared to leave the score at 2-1 through 40 minutes.<\/p>\n

In the opening salvo, the Ducks drew first blood but went into the break trailing, also engaging in a pair of fights.<\/p>\n

They welcomed back captain Radko Gudas and their leading scorer, Gauthier, both of whom missed the past five games. In the first period, they both did their thing.<\/p>\n

It was Gauthier getting the puck, gliding with a goal five ticks after the Ducks\u2019 first power play expired, 3:41 after the opening draw. Alex Killorn generated a rebound that Kreider poked from post to post for Gauthier, who has 17 goals in his last 21 appearances, dating back to Jan. 30.<\/p>\n

After the 6-foot-9-inch Douglas scored his first NHL goal, cleaning up Aatu R\u00e4ty\u2019s deflection of a point shot at 10:49, Gudas fought Teddy Blueger.<\/p>\n

Then, after DeBrusk redirected the puck skyward from the slot for a go-ahead goal, Douglas would exchange blows with Jeffrey Viel. DeBrusk\u2019s goal at 14:37 was his 21st this year, 18 of which have come with the man advantage.<\/p>\n

The Ducks will close the year on a two-game road trip that will take them to Minnesota on Tuesday and conclude the season in Nashville on Thursday.<\/p>\n

(This report was compiled remotely).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ducks players celebrate a goal by center Leo Carlsson during the third period of an NHL hockey game…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":265014,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,824,165,164,404,127],"class_list":["post-265013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-ducks","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265013","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=265013"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265013\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/265014"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}