The Vancouver Canucks (6-2-3) rolled into Anaheim on Tuesday night and handed the Anaheim Ducks (4-6-2) a 5-1 loss. Led by captain Quinn Hughes‘ three assists and two-point performances by Kiefer Sherwood, Brock Boeser and Danton Heinen, they are now 2-0-0 on their California road trip that wraps up on Thursday against the Los Angeles Kings. With the three helpers, Hughes recorded his 300th assist in his 376th game, outpacing the legendary Paul Coffey who did it in 377 games. Only Brian Leetch and Bobby Orr did it in fewer games.
Game Recap
Before the Hughes show got started for the 376th time, the Ducks opened the scoring in the first period on the power play from a point shot by Olen Zellweger that found its way through traffic and past Kevin Lankinen. The Canucks responded later in the period with a goal by Boeser, his sixth of the season, also on the power play, to tie the game at one. Quickly after that, Sherwood took a slick feed from Erik Brannstrom off the rush and one-timed it past Lukas Dostal to give his team a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.
Elias Pettersson tipped home a Hughes slap shot to increase the lead to 3-1 in the second period, giving Hughes his second assist of the night. The goal was first given to the Canucks captain, but was later changed to Pettersson, back to Hughes, and then finally finishing with Pettersson. The historic assist happened in the third when Jake DeBrusk deftly tipped a Boeser shot past Dostal to give the smooth-skating defender his 300th helper in only his 376th game. Heinen rounded out the scoring with his third, and first since potting two against the Chicago Blackhawks on Oct. 22.
Lankinen remains perfect in regulation as a Canuck as he increased his record to 6-0-2. He was solid again in net, stopping 21 of 22 shots. Dostal was the busier goaltender and will see his overall save percentage (SV%) take a bit of a hit after this one. He stopped 32 of 37 for a .865 SV%.
As mentioned off the top, the Canucks will face the Kings on Thursday to close out their short three-game road trip. The Ducks, meanwhile, will try again for their first win on this six-game homestand when they face the Minnesota Wild on Friday.