DeSmith, Canucks hang on to edge Ducks

ANAHEIM -- Casey DeSmith made 17 saves for the Vancouver Canucks in a 2-1 win against the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center on Sunday.

DeSmith had not played since allowing eight goals on 25 shots in a 10-7 loss to the Minnesota Wild on Feb. 19. It was also his first win since Jan. 9 (5-2 against New York Islanders), ending an 0-1-3 skid.

"I don't know if I've ever been so happy to win a game," DeSmith said. "Obviously, personally, it feels really good, kind of get off the skid, but also huge win for the team to start off this road trip on the right foot."

Nils Hoglander and Conor Garland scored for Vancouver (39-17-7), which had lost two straight and six of seven (1-5-1).

"Nice job by Casey to come in and play like that," Garland said. "It's a great game by him. We hung him out to dry in Minnesota."

Alex Killorn scored, and Lukas Dostal made 29 saves for Anaheim (22-36-3), which had won two in a row.

"Those games hurt because you're in the game," Ducks coach Greg Cronin said. "At the same time, they had more chances than we did. I don't think we generated enough. We had some zone time, particularly in the second period, but we weren't able to get pucks to the net. They did a really good job of taking lanes away and blocking shots."

Each team scored on its first shot of the game.

Hoglander gave the Canucks a 1-0 lead at 1:37 of the first period. Quinn Hughes carried the puck through the right face-off circle and sent a backhand centering pass from just above the goal line to Hoglander, who scored glove side from the slot.

The Ducks tied it 1-1 at 4:15. Max Jones attempted a wrist shot after receiving a drop pass from Killorn, but Canucks forward Pius Suter knocked the puck off his stick just as he made contact. The puck then slid back to Killorn, who swiped the puck into the net from the bottom of the right circle.

Vancouver outshot Anaheim 15-3 in the first period.

"The first period wasn't great in the sense that we didn't get a ton of opportunities," Killorn said. "They played a lot in our zone, but as the game went on, I thought we played pretty good with all of the hockey we've been playing lately."

The Ducks killed back-to-back penalties that spanned the first and second period before Garland scored on a redirection off a feed from Nikita Zadorov 11 seconds after the second penalty expired to give the Canucks a 2-1 lead at 3:34.

"Tried to roll off the guy and beat him to the net, and it was a great play by [Zadorov]," Garland said.

Cronin said the Ducks got mixed up in their coverage after returning to 5-on-5 play.

"The second goal was unnecessary," Cronin said. "We killed two penalties off in a row and then [Sam Carrick] comes out of the box and we're in a 5-on-5 situation and it seemed like we didn't react to it. It looked like we had lost our structure and to give a tap-in goal like that, as a game-winner, that's frustrating."

NOTES: Ducks goalie John Gibson did not play because of an illness. Alex Stalock was recalled from San Diego of the American Hockey League to back up Dostal. … The Canucks have won six in a row against Anaheim. ... J.T. Miller had an assist on Garland's goal to extend his point streak to seven games (six goals, seven assists). ... Canucks forward Vasily Podkolzin played 12:39 in his season debut. Podkolzin, the No. 10 pick in the 2019 NHL Draft, was recalled from Abbotsford of the AHL on Saturday. ... Vancouver defenseman Mark Friedman played in place of Tyler Myers (lower-body injury) after being a healthy scratch the previous eight games. He had one hit and one shot in 12:54. .... Ducks defenseman Cam Fowler returned after missing the 4-3 win against the New Jersey Devils on Friday because of a facial laceration sustained in the 6-4 win against the Sharks on Thursday. ... Anaheim forward Mason McTavish did not play after sustaining a lower-body injury in the first period of the win against the Devils. ... Ducks forward Leo Carlsson missed his second straight game with a lower-body injury sustained in the third period of the win against the Sharks.