The Vancouver Canucks may be relishing their role as spoilers as the season wanes.
Om Friday night, they beat the Anaheim, 3-2, to stall the Ducks charge for first place in the Pacific.
Emerson Etem picked up the game-winner with a little over five minutes left in regulation.
“It was nice to get one in my former arena, for sure,” Etem said. “I’ve had a lot of special moments in this building.”
The Ducks still trail the Los Angeles Kings by a point in the race for the top spot in the division.
“It was a game we should’ve had,” Anaheim coach Bruce Boudreau said. “We should’ve had two points tonight. You need 20 guys playing. We didn’t have all 20 going.”
Jacob Markstrom made 34 saves for the win.
Josh Manson and Nate Thompson scored for the Ducks.
“Any time you get a one-goal lead in the third period, where we’re heading, you have to be able to keep them down and win those games,” Manson said. “We had spurts of the way we wanted to play, but consistency is the key word. We have to find that. After the first goal, you want to keep pushing and step on teams when we have the lead like that. We have to work on that.”
Bo Horvat and Dan Hamhuis scored for the Canucks who rallied from one-goal deficits throughout the night.
“I’ve always believed in the team,” Canucks coach Willie Desjardins said. “It’s good to see, because that’s playing without a longer bench. A lot of young guys are playing in those situations and I thought they showed well. They played hard, they made smart plays to get pucks out and it was good that they got rewarded.”
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