Joshua scores twice, Canucks recover against Ducks

VANCOUVER -- Dakota Joshua scored his second goal of the game with 2:13 left in the third period, and the Vancouver Canucks recovered for a 3-2 win against the Anaheim Ducks at Rogers Arena on Sunday.

“That was big,” said Joshua, who was playing in his second game after missing 18 with a hand injury. “It was nice to get on the score sheet again. Maybe not my overall best game, but nice to see the puck go in.”

Joshua put the Canucks in front with a one-timer from the edge of the crease off a spinning backhand pass from Conor Garland.

Ducks coach Greg Cronin described defensemen Olen Zellweger and Cam Fowler both chasing Garland behind the net on the play as a "cardinal sin."

“You don't leave the front of the net when the puck is behind your net,” Cronin said. “They're not scoring from behind the net, just stay there. We've talked about it repeatedly this year, and I don't know what the big -- it's just foolishness -- what the big urge is to go behind the net when somebody has got a puck and they're not going to score from there.”

Brock Boeser scored, J.T. Miller had two assists, and Arturs Silovs made 20 saves in his first start of the season for the Canucks (46-20-8), who had lost two straight and ended a nine-game homestand 5-3-1.

Vancouver, which clinched a berth in the Stanley Cup Playoffs on Saturday when the St. Louis Blues lost 4-0 to the San Jose Sharks, leads the Edmonton Oilers by six points for first place in the Pacific Division. The Oilers have played two fewer games.

“We need to focus on the next game more importantly right now and not look ahead because if we play like we did tonight, we're going to lose most games,” Miller said. “We need to make sure that we're focused on the present, not worried about [the playoffs].”

Zellweger and Mason McTavish scored 71 seconds apart in the third period, and Lukas Dostal made 27 saves for the Ducks (24-47-4), who were coming off a 6-1 loss at the Oilers on Saturday.

Anaheim has lost five in a row (0-4-1) and has one win in its past 13 games (1-11-1).

Boeser put the Canucks ahead 1-0 at 11:26 of the first period, scoring a power-play goal on a rebound at the left side of the crease.

Joshua made it 2-0 with another power-play goal at 9:34 of the second period. He took a pass near the right post, spun and pulled the puck between his legs before lifting a shot over Dostal’s blocker.

Joshua, who averages 15 seconds of ice time per game on the power play, played 2:11 on the man-advantage against the Ducks.

“I don’t know if I try it a whole lot, but back in the day I used to be on the power play, so I know some things to do out there,” Joshua said. “And I was just lucky enough to have that one go in.”

Vancouver went 2-for-4 on the power play after going 3-for-22 in the first eight games of the homestand.

“Getting two goals is big. We won the special teams,” said Canucks coach Rick Tocchet, who wasn’t happy with the other two power plays. “Some bad passing in critical moments, hold the puck and then throw it away. We’ve got to keep working on execution.”

Zellweger pulled the Ducks to within 2-1 at 3:37 of the third period with his first NHL goal. He scored with a sharp-angled shot over Silovs' right shoulder from the bottom of the left circle.

“It's kind of like a dream for everyone to score their first NHL goal, so I'm pretty happy to be able to do it,” said Zellweger, who was playing in his 19th NHL game. “I came off the bench and I kind of jumped in the play, and [Isac Lundestrom] made a good drop pass to me and I kind of just got some room there, maybe they had a miscommunication, and seen a little spot there and it went in.”

McTavish tied it 2-2 at 4:48 after Gustav Lindstrom's wraparound attempt went through the crease to him near the right post.

“I thought overall we put some pressure on them,” Zellweger said. “I thought the whole game was pretty competitive from us. Not what we wanted at the end, but I'm sure we'll continue to build on our effort and competitiveness here.”

Anaheim was 0-for-4 on the power play, including failing to get a shot on net after Noah Juulsen was called for tripping at 14:09 of the third

“It's a shame. We get a power play with five minutes to go in the game and we don't get a shot on net,” Cronin said. “It didn't do much tonight. I think we had three shots on net in four power plays. It's ironic, last night it was a 6-1 game but we just took a point shot from the blue line and we tipped it in, and tonight we're trying to make plays. We just didn't generate any scoring chances.”

NOTES: The Ducks made three lineup changes from the loss to Edmonton. Dostal replaced goalie John Gibson, Jackson LaCombe replaced defenseman Pavel Mintyukov, and Ben Meyers replaced forward Ross Johnston. … Canucks goalie Casey DeSmith had started seven straight games (3-3-1) since Thatcher Demko sustained a lower-body injury on March 9.