Recap: Ducks Can't Snap Losing Skid in 3-1 Loss to Canucks

The Ducks could not find the late equalizing goal tonight in a tight divisional game in Vancouver, falling 3-1 to the Canucks at Rogers Arena.

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The loss pushed Anaheim's winless streak to seven games and dropped the club to 9-13-0 on the season. The Ducks begin a two-game homestand Thursday against Washington.

Ryan Strome scored the lone goal for Anaheim, his third of the season, tying the game in the second period on the power play. Adam Henrique and Frank Vatrano tallied assists. John Gibson made 25 saves.

Brock Boeser scored twice for the Canucks, his league-leading 16th and 17th goals of the season. Elias Pettersson also scored. Thatcher Demko earned the win in net, turning aside 30-of-31 Ducks shots.

Despite a 12-6 advantage in shots for Anaheim in the opening period, it would be Vancouver going ahead first when Hronek's one-timer snuck through Gibson just enough to allow Boeser to punch it over the goal line while the Anaheim netminder looked for the rebound.

Boeser tops the NHL in goals this season (17), already more than halfway to his career high (29 in 2017-18) just 22 games into the 2023-24 campaign.

Filip Hronek and JT Miller each recorded their 21st assists of the season on the go-ahead goal and finished the top in the NHL's top five alongside teammates Petterson and Quinn Hughes.

Anaheim evened the score with a power-play goal in the second period, finally breaking through after a long shift in the offensive zone. With Jakob Silfverberg parked in front of the net, Strome took a cross-ice pass by Henrique and then lifted a wrister over the glove of a screened Demko for his third goal of the season.

Strome has points in two of his last three games (1-1=2). He paces the Ducks in assists (14) and remains third among team leaders in points (2-14=16).

Henrique's assist marked his 10th point of the season and moved the seventh-year Duck within 11 of 500 for his NHL career.

With the secondary helper, Vatrano has four points in his last four games. A year after setting a new career-high scoring (41 points), Vatrano has 21 points in 22 games this season.

Vancouver would reclaim the lead in the initial moments of the third period though on a tough break for Anaheim. Shortly after a collision in front of the net contacted Gibson, and with the goaltender both looking for a call and delivering a shove to Canucks forward Andrei Kuzmenko, Pettersson collected a loose puck behind the net and tucked home a wraparound bid before Gibson could slide across his crease. 

The goal made Pettersson the sixth NHLer to reach 30 points this season, and the third Canuck. The Swedish native has 19 points in 15 career games against Anaheim.

The Ducks would have their chances at tying the game again in the third, most notably on a late power play where Silfverberg was denied on the doorstep, but the SoCal native Demko would shut the door and Boeser hit the empty net to seal the Vancouver win.

The Ducks begin a two-game homestand Thursday against Washington.