Ducks score seven in win against Canucks to end four-game skid

VANCOUVER --Nicolas Deslauriers and Adam Henrique each scored twice for the Anaheim Ducks in a 7-4 win against the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena on Saturday.

Trevor Zegras had three assists, and John Gibson made 16 saves and had an assist for the Ducks (24-19-9), who ended a four-game skid (0-3-1) that included being outscored 17-8 while losing the past three in regulation.
"This was 100 percent must-win," Deslauriers said. "Now we have to do it again."
Deslauriers set the tone with a heavy hit that knocked Canucks defenseman Kyle Burroughs out of the game 44 seconds into the first period, and Troy Terry gave Anaheim a 1-0 lead on a deflection 13 seconds later. Deslauriers made it 2-0 at 3:23 by redirecting a pass from Derek Grant out of the corner to the top of the crease.
"We talked about it just before the game. We need to come out banging," Deslauriers said. "Got to give credit to the second line that jumped on and scored right after. It's almost a better feeling finishing my hit and seeing we score right after."

Elias Pettersson had a goal and two assists for the Canucks (23-22-6), who pulled Thatcher Demko 4:20 into the second period after he allowed five goals on 14 shots. Jaroslav Halak made nine saves in relief.
"It's pretty obvious Anaheim was way more of a desperate team, and they knew what was at stake," Canucks coach Bruce Boudreau said. "They came out to avenge their four-game losing streak and we were just thinking it was going to be an ordinary game. That's where it started and then it just unraveled after that."
Rickard Rakell made it 3-0 at 14:08 with a power-play point shot that deflected off Canucks forward Juho Lammikko past a screened Demko. It was Rakell's fourth goal in six games.
"We were very direct to the net," Ducks coach Dallas Eakins said. "We just wanted to get pucks there. We didn't care how they got there, with bodies going there, and we wanted to be physical, and we were able to check all those three boxes early on."
Henrique increased the lead to 4-0 at 1:35 of the second period on a rebound at the top of the crease on a power play, and Sam Steel pushed it to 5-0 at 4:20 on a scramble two seconds after another power play ended.
"Our power play has been good all year (25.9 percent, fifth in NHL) and it's certainly nice to have that in your back pocket when maybe you don't score as many goals five-on-five as other teams," Eakins said. "It was good for them to crack in some tonight."

Tanner Pearson cut it to 5-1 at 4:52 with a one-timer from the bottom of the face-off circle and Pettersson made it 5-2 at 15:47 with a one- timer on a power play.
Henrique put the Ducks ahead 6-2 at 16:50 by shoveling the puck over the line and under defenseman Luke Schenn as he dove to try and keep it out after a Zegras shot hit the post and deflected off Halak towards the goal.
Deslauriers scored from the slot to make it 7-2 3:49 into the third period.
"I want to score more," Deslauriers said after doubling his season total. "It's not my job."
Eakins changed up his forward lines before the game and it paid off with a balanced attack.
"You're hoping your gut is right, but you don't know until the game starts," he said. "But I thought all four of our lines did a very, very good job. I thought our 'D' were good and [Gibson] was good when he needed to be, so it was certainly a very good team effort."

Conor Garland pulled Vancouver within 7-3 at 10:41 from a sharp angle and Quinn Hughes scored on a screened point shot at 16:28 for the 7-4 final.
"They scored those two quick ones on us early and there was just no pushback from us," Vancouver forward Bo Horvat said. "We've been in that position before where it's tough to fight back down that much. It just was not a good start for us today."
NOTES:Burroughs appeared to injure his right arm on the Deslauriers hit, and fellow defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson left after getting hit with 7:01 remaining in the third period. Boudreau said "it doesn't look very good in the short term" for Burroughs but didn't have an update on Ekman-Larsson. … Ducks center Ryan Getzlaf missed his second straight game with a lower-body injury. He skated Saturday after he was a late scratch prior to a 7-3 loss to the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday but Eakins decided to hold him out to try to get healthier. … Henrique has scored 207 goals in 741 NHL games but has never had a hat trick. Deslauriers has scored 40 goals in 474 NHL games and has one hat trick (a natural one) on March 10, 2020 in a 5-2 win against the Ottawa Senators. … Pettersson has scored eight points (three goals, five assists) in the past five games. … Anaheim won the season series 3-0-1 (Vancouver 1-2-1).