Richard Bachman carries Canucks past Ducks

ANAHEIM -- Richard Bachman made 43 saves in his first NHL start in 16 months to help the Vancouver Canucks to a 2-1 win against the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center on Sunday.
Bo Horvat and Markus Granlund scored goals for Vancouver (28-30-7), which is six points behind the St. Louis Blues for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.
Bachman hadn't played for the Canucks since Oct. 30, 2015.

"I was making good reads and it felt good to shut the door late," Bachman said. "The team was great in front of me. This was a total team win."
WATCH: All Canucks vs. Ducks highlights
Anaheim (33-22-10) missed an opportunity to make up ground on the Pacific Division-leading San Jose Sharks, who lost in regulation to the Minnesota Wild earlier Sunday, and remain seven points back.
The Canucks took a 2-0 lead at 6:35 of the second period on the 17th goal of the season by Granlund. The Ducks won a faceoff in their zone, but Kevin Bieksa turned the puck over trying to pass it back to defense partner Cam Fowler. Granlund intercepted the puck and set off on a 3-on-1 with forwards Brendan Gaunce and Brandon Sutter. Granlund elected to shoot and sent the puck between Jonathan Bernier's pads.

"We were a flat hockey team," Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said of the first two periods.
After Horvat gave the Canucks a 1-0 lead at 14:09 of the first period, the Ducks briefly appeared to tie the score less than three minutes later.
Anaheim forward Ondrej Kase knocked the puck in Vancouver's net with his left skate, but the goal was immediately waved off because Kase used a kicking motion. Bachman had made a save on a shot by Patrick Eaves from the left circle and Kase used his skate to try and settle the rebound, but instead kicked the puck across the goal line.
Eaves scored his second goal for Anaheim following his trade by the Dallas Stars on Feb. 24 to cut the deficit to 2-1 at 6:12 of the third period.

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Goal of the game

The Canucks took a 1-0 lead when Bernier failed to secure the puck off a shot from defenseman Ben Hutton from just inside the blue line. Horvat swiped the puck into the net as it slid down Bernier's left pad for his team-leading 20th goal of the season.

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Save of the game

With the game scoreless, the Ducks broke loose on a 2-on-1 following a giveaway at the red line. Jakob Silfverberg passed the puck to a wide open Ryan Kesler on his left, but Bachman quickly slid over and made the save on Kesler's one-timer from the slot with 6:35 left in the first period.

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Highlight of the game

The Ducks went on the power play trailing by a goal at 14:42 of the third period. Kesler won the ensuing faceoff and the puck went to Fowler between the circles. He took a hard shot, but Bachman was in position to make the save, the first of five saves on that penalty kill.

Unsung performance of the game

Nikolay Goldobin, acquired Feb. 28 in a trade with the Sharks, replaced injured forward Loui Eriksson on a line with Sven Baertschi and Horvat, and saw time on the first power-play unit. He finished with two shots on goal and a plus-1 rating in 12:41 of ice time.

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They said it

"We battled. We won the 1-on-1 battles, and it made the difference." -- Canucks forward Markus Granlund

"You catch a team on the second night of a back-to-back, you want to make them earn it. We woke up in the third and it was too late." -- Ducks defenseman Cam Fowler

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Need to know

Eriksson was helped off the ice early in the first period after absorbing a hit from Ducks forward Chris Wagner and did not return. Eriksson was unable to put weight on his left leg. "I haven't talked to anyone, but it looks like [Ericsson] will be out a couple games anyways," coach Willie Desjardins said. … Horvat is the first Canucks player to score 20 goals in a season prior to turning 22 years of age since Daniel Sedin in 2000-01.

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What's next

Canucks: Host the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday (10 p.m. ET; SNP, SNE, RDS,
NHL.TV
)
Ducks: Host the Nashville Predators on Tuesday (10 p.m. ET; SN1, SNO, SNW, PRIME, FS-TN,
NHL.TV
)