Ducks defeat Canucks but are eliminated from playoff contention

VANCOUVER -- The Anaheim Ducks defeated the Vancouver Canucks 5-4 at Rogers Arena on Tuesday, but they were eliminated from Stanley Cup Playoff contention.

Rookie Sam Steel got his first NHL hat trick for Anaheim (32-36-10), which was eliminated when the Arizona Coyotes defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 1-0. John Gibson made 28 saves.
"It's a little different," Ducks forward Rickard Rakell said of celebrating a win on the night they were eliminated. "But something like Steel's hat trick got everyone going on the bench and was fun and gave the team some energy, and we just kept going from that."
WATCH: [All Ducks vs. Canucks highlights]
Anaheim is 4-1-1 in its past six games.
Jake Virtanen, Alexander Edler, Josh Leivo and Tanner Pearson scored, and Jacob Markstrom made 19 saves for the Canucks (32-35-10), who have lost three in a row and are seven points behind the Colorado Avalanche for the second wild card into the playoffs from the Western Conference with five games remaining.
"We had like a 30-minute lull again," Vancouver center Bo Horvat said. "We showed what we can do there in the last 10 minutes of the game. We were all over them in their zone all the time. We've got to play like that every single game, all the time, every shift, everybody."
Steel, called up from San Diego of the American Hockey League on Saturday because of an upper-body injury to center Ryan Getzlaf, scored on a breakaway 9:09 into the first period to give the Ducks a 1-0 lead. He scored his second goal off the rebound of a Kiefer Sherwood shot to tie the game 2-2 at 12:16 of the second period.
Steel completed the hat trick to put Anaheim ahead 3-2 when he scored on a penalty shot with 51 seconds left in the period after Vancouver's Markus Granlund played a broken stick into the puck near the point.

At 21 years, 51 days, Steel is the youngest player in Ducks history to get a hat trick; Bobby Ryan got one at 21 years, 297 days on Jan. 8, 2009.
"It's pretty special to accomplish that, and to do it in a win is even better," Steel said. "There were nerves, but luckily I got past that."
He is the third rookie in NHL history to score on a penalty shot in a hat-trick game, joining Teemu Selanne (March 9, 1993) and Eric Lindros (Dec. 26, 1992).
Once the Ducks realized they were getting a penalty shot, they began calling Steel's name on the bench, Rakell said.
"As a coaching staff, the players made the decision for us," assistant coach Mark Morrison said.
Steel, selected by Anaheim in the first round (No. 30) of the 2016 NHL Draft, had one goal in 17 NHL games this season entering Tuesday.
"At start of the year, it's not like I came in expecting to put up huge numbers, but I wanted to produce, and I don't think I was living up to what was expected," he said. "I am feeling more confident now and think I can produce at this level."
Virtanen tied the game 1-1 at 12:50 with a sharp-angled shot that bounced in off defenseman Cam Fowler's skate, and Edler put the Canucks ahead 2-1 with a shot from the left point that deflected off Corey Perry's stick at 19:00.

It was the 93rd goal of Edler's career, tying him with Mattias Ohlund for most by a Canucks defenseman.
"We thought it was going to be easy after that," Horvat said. "And that's not how it works."
Rakell scored his fourth goal in the past three games on the power play from the left face-off dot at 7:44 of the third period to make it 4-2.
"Anything that can keep you going and finish the season the right way," Rakell said.

Sherwood, who was called up from the AHL with Steel, got to a turnover in the high slot and scored with a wrist shot at 11:22 to make it 5-2.
Leivo made it 5-3 when he scored unassisted off a turnover with 6:26 left, and Pearson scored on a rebound with 5:32 left to make it 5-4.

They said it

"I'm trying to make an impact every game and just do whatever I can, no matter if we are in the playoffs or not. We want to win every night." -- Ducks rookie forward Sam Steel, who got his first NHL hat trick
"In the second, they kind of took over the game. We came back in the last 10 minutes of the third, but it's tough. By then, they'd scored five already. So that's not good enough." -- Canucks goalie Jacob Markstrom

Need to know

Steel is the youngest player in Ducks history to score on a penalty shot, ahead of Ondrej Kase, who did so at 21 years, 350 days Oct. 24, 2017. … Steel is the third NHL player 21 or younger to score at least three goals in a game this season, joining Patrik Laine of the Winnipeg Jets (three times) and Canucks center Elias Pettersson. … Vancouver defenseman Josh Teves made his NHL debut after signing as a free agent March 12 out of Princeton University. He was minus-1 with four hits and one blocked shot in 13:40.

What's next

Ducks: At the Calgary Flames on Friday (9 p.m. ET; SNW, PRIME, NHL.TV)
Canucks: Host the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday (10 p.m. ET; SNP, FS-W, NHL.TV)