The Canucks and Ducks; it rolls right off the tongue, just as the game rolled along in a 2-1 victory for the visiting BC Boys in SoCal.
The first period featured utter domination; the Canucks outshot the Ducks 17-4 and J.T. Miller scored the lone goal with a slapper past his teenage pal and former World Juniors Gold Medal teammate John Gibson. “Gibby” was the tournament MVP when those two and their Team USA mates won in Ufa, Russia in 2013.
They both played youth hockey in the PIttsburgh area and then were together with the National Team Development Program (NTDP).
Canucks Goal Scorers:
1st Period
1-0 Canucks – Even Strength (delayed penalty) – J.T. Miller (26) from Quinn Hughes and Elias Pettersson, 9:05
Miller stepped into a drop pass and ripped a 98-mile-per-hour slapper glove-side off the post and in.
2nd Period
2-0 Canucks – Power Play – Elias Pettersson (33) from Quinn Hughes and J.T. Miller, 1;31
From the slot side of the right wing circle, ‘Petey’ had time to fire a wrister top shelf glove-side. No chance.
— Pettersson set a new career high with his 33rd goal of the season while Hughes reached 60 assists for the second consecutive season.
— Matters became a bit feisty in the 2nd period, especially after Canucks forward Dakota Joshua hit Ducks forward Troy Terry in open ice with a clean hit, which brought Anaheim leading scorer Trevor Zegras to the rescue. The jostling and scrum resulted in Zegras getting a slashing call and the Canucks going on the power play.
3rd Period
— Contrary to the previous twenty minutes, the teams coasted through the third period, up until Anaheim’s Ryan Strome made things interesting with his 13th goal of the season on a scramble near the left post with a bouncing puck.
— Vancouver outshot Anaheim 40-18. Power plays: Vancouver 1-for-4, Anaheim 0-for3. Vancouver goalie Collin Delia picked up the win.
Canucks 3 Stars:
1) J.T. Miller – goal and an assist, four shots.
2) Elias Pettersson – goal and an assist, four shots.
3) Quinn Hughes – two assists, four shots.
