Boeser scores twice, Canucks hand Ducks 7th straight loss

VANCOUVER -- Brock Boeser scored twice for the Vancouver Canucks, who handed the Anaheim Ducks their seventh straight loss with a 3-1 win at Rogers Arena on Tuesday.

Boeser leads the NHL with 17 goals this season, one short of his total of 18 in 74 games last season and on pace to surpass his career-best of 29, which he scored as a finalist for the Calder Trophy as the League’s top rookie in 2017-18.

“He’s been great for us this year and he keeps scoring goals,” Vancouver forward Elias Pettersson said of Boeser. “It’s a good storyline for you guys, but it’s just good. The way he’s playing, battling, winning puck battles and obviously scoring, making plays, I’m very happy for him.”

Pettersson scored, J.T. Miller had two assists, and Thatcher Demko made 30 saves for the Canucks (15-7-1), who have alternated wins and losses in their past six games.

Anaheim outshot Vancouver 27-12 through two periods, but the Canucks took over in the third. They registered the first eight shots, finished with a 15-4 advantage and scored the only two goals of the period.

“I just liked our response in the third,” Boeser said. “It’s a lesson that we learned last year. There were lots of games last year where we weren’t good in third periods. [Coach Rick Tocchet] came in and that was one of the things we picked up on, ’you got to play good in third periods and can’t have a letdown.’”

Ryan Strome scored, and John Gibson made 24 saves for the Ducks (9-13-0), who have been outscored 33-12 during their skid.

Boeser gave Vancouver a 1-0 lead at 6:34 of the first period. Gibson got across to stop a one-timer from Filip Hronek, but the rebound trickled into the crease, where Boeser had inside position on Pavel Mintyukov to tap the puck into the open net.

“It paid off being there, [Miller] made a great play,” Boeser said.

Anaheim defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin left late in the first period with an upper-body injury and did not return. The Ducks, who were already missing veteran defenseman Radko Gudas, who is day to day with a lower-body injury sustained in an 8-2 loss against the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday, finished the game with five defensemen, including three rookies with 49 games combined of NHL experience.

“I was proud of the way we competed when for most of the game [Lyubushkin] was out,” Anaheim coach Greg Cronin said. “In the second period, we came out of the locker room telling the forwards you can't make it a tough game for the [defense], so put everything deep and we did, we hunted pucks down, got them back and then they gave us a push in the third and we didn't gain any momentum.”

Strome tied it 1-1 on the power play at 5:10 of the second period, receiving a pass from Adam Henrique and quickly shooting over Demko's glove from the left face-off dot.

“Our special teams have been a lot better,” Strome said. “The first unit gets a good chunk of the time but when we can get on and chip in, it's a good sign.”

Pettersson put the Canucks back ahead 2-1 after scoring 32 seconds into the third period on a wraparound five-hole on Gibson after giving a shove to Andrei Kuzmenko at the other post.

“It was a big-time goal,” Tocchet said. “We needed it. We were in a fight.”

Cronin said the Ducks considered challenging for goalie interference.

“Obviously there was a guy in the crease prior to the goal, but the referee came over and said Gibson had time to reset himself,” Cronin said. “It's an odd play in front of our net, our goalie is tussling with a guy. It's just a tough way to start a third period after you had built up so much momentum in the second.”

Mason McTavish had a chance to tie it at 17:43 for the Ducks, but his rebound attempt from in tight hit the left post.

“That was unbelievable,” Cronin said. “You could see it from the bench, the net was wide open and I saw it going in and I expected the light to go on and it's kind of a shock. But we’ve got to score more than one goal or two goals a game. You're not going to win games doing that.”

Boeser scored a power-play goal into an empty net with 48 seconds left for the 3-1 final.

NOTES: Cronin did not have an update on Lyubushkin. … Tocchet said X-rays were negative on Vancouver forward Ilya Mikheyev, who had to be helped off the ice at 11:06 of the third period after taking a slap shot from Tyler Myers off the left knee; Tocchet said, “I’m pretty sure he should be OK.” … Hronek has five points (one goal, four assists) during a four-game point streak. … Canucks defenseman Quinn Hughes had his point streak end at 11 games and 17 points (four goals, 13 assists).