The Vancouver Canucks (27-20-11) shoot for a Southern California sweep when they face the Anaheim Ducks (25-25-7) at Honda Center tonight. The Canucks defeated the Los Angeles Kings 3-2 in overtime last night and are now 5-0 in the Golden State this season.
Conor Garland scored twice including the OT winner to lead the Canucks to victory. Nils Höglander had Vancouver’s other goal. The Canucks have now opened the scoring in seven straight games and 10 of their last 11. They have not allowed a first-period goal in their last six games. 
Quinn Hughes returned to the line-up after missing six games with an oblique strain. The Canucks captain played 21:38 and picked up his 60th point of the season assisting on the Garland overtime goal. With the captain returning from injury, the Canucks went with seven defencemen and 11 forwards. With no morning skate today, it will be closer to game time to know the team’s plans against the Ducks. Tyler Myers left last night’s game in overtime after taking a puck to the neck. Rick Tocchet thought after the game that Myers had dodged a bullet and would be available tonight.
The Canucks killed off all four Los Angeles power plays including one in overtime. Teddy Blueger led all Canucks skaters logging 4:47 of shorthanded ice time while Marcus Pettersson played 4:32, Derek Forbort 4:14 and Pius Suter 4:04 .Meanwhile, the team scored on one of its two chances with the man-advantage. The Canucks have scored a power play goal in five of the last six games and are five for their last 20 opportunities (25%) over that span.
The productive power play has offset the Canucks struggles to score at 5-on-5. Overall, the club has 12 goals in its last six games. Five of those goals have come on the power play, while four have come at 5-on-5. Two others have come in overtime and one into an empty net. The Canucks have been held to three goals or fewer in nine straight and 18 of their last 19 games. Yet, through all of that, the club is 9-8-2 in those 19 games.
While Kevin Lankinen got the start and the win against the Kings, Arturs Silovs is expected to get the nod tonight. Silovs was solid, stopping 30 of 32 shots in a 2-1 loss in Utah on Sunday. It was his first NHL game action since November 27th in Pittsburgh.

The opponent

The Ducks play their first home game since February 4th tonight. They are coming off a 3-2 loss in Buffalo on Tuesday, a game they led 2-0 going into the third period. Mason McTavish and Leo Carlsson scored power play goals to give the Ducks the lead, however they were outshot 19-6 and outscored 3-0 in the third period by the Sabres. McTavish has eight goals in his last 11 games, while Carlsson has seven points in his last six outings.
Despite the loss, Anaheim is still 7-2-1 in its last 10 games and 15-11-3 since the middle of December. That’s three more points than the Canucks have over that same span.
Frank Vatrano leads the team with 17 goals, while Troy Terry has 16. With 42 points, Terry is the Ducks scoring leader, and he is 10 points clear of Vatrano.
Trevor Zegras is serving the second game of a three-game suspension for head contact on Detroit’s Michael Rasmussen on Sunday.
The Ducks have received solid goaltending almost all season. Lukas Dostal has emerged as the Ducks’ go-to guy and has delivered a .910 save percentage, while veteran John Gibson has posted a .916 save percentage while battling injuries. Gibson has a save percentage of .923 since December 14th. As a team, the Ducks have the sixth-best 5-on-5 save percentage in the league at .923%. Dostal is expected to get the start in goal against the Canucks.
For some reason, Southern California rockers The Offspring are being celebrated by the Ducks tonight.
On the season, the Ducks special teams have not been special. Their power play ranks 31st overall (12.9%) and 32nd at home (11.6%). They have just 20 power play goals on the season. The penalty kill hasn’t been much better, sitting 26th in the league (74.1%) and 27th on home ice (72.7%).
Tonight will be the Canucks first look at Jacob Trouba in a Ducks jersey. He was acquired from the New York Rangers on December 6th.
Vancouver beat Anaheim 5-1 in their lone meeting so far this season on November 5th. It’s one of just two games this season in which forwards Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser have scored in the same game. These teams will clash again in Vancouver next Wednesday. The Ducks will also visit Rogers Arena for a matinee on Saturday, April 5th. The Canucks have taken nine of the past 10 meetings between these teams including five in a row.
Tonight’s referees: Wes McCauley & Jake Brenk
Tonight’s broadcasters: John Shorthouse & Ray Ferraro
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