On Tuesday night, the Anaheim Ducks were in Vancouver to face off with the Canucks in a game that at this points meant little to either team.
Sam Steel scored his first NHL hat trick for the Ducks in a 5-4 win.
Rickard Rakell had a goal in Ducks win – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
“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.”
The win and feat came on the same night they were officially eliminated from the playoff race.
“It’s a little different,” Rickard Rakell said. “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.”
On the other side of the benches, the Canucks trail the second wild card in the Western Conference by seven points but only have 10 points on the table.
John Gibson made 28 saves to stifle the Canucks.
“We had like a 30-minute lull again,” Vancouver’s 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.”
Jake Virtanen, Alexander Edler, Josh Leivo and Tanner Pearson scored for the Canucks.
Steel’s hat trick was completed on a penalty shot with the bench calling for him to be picked for the effort.
“As a coaching staff, the players made the decision for us,” assistant coach Mark Morrison said.
Kiefer Sherwood and Rakell also scored for the Ducks.
“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,” Steel said.
[WATCH: All Ducks vs. Canucks highlights]
Jacob Markstrom made 19 saves in the loss.
“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,” Markstrom said after the game.
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