Canucks 5, Ducks 0: They followed the leader

As teams often do in sports, the Anaheim Ducks followed their captain’s lead on Friday night. In this case, that wasn’t a good thing.

                       ********************************************************

The Canucks were in Anaheim seeking revenge after an embarrassing 7-3 defeat to the Ducks in Vancouver’s home opener six days prior.

Just like it did Friday, Anaheim’s aggressive forecheck gave the visitors fits early, but, unlike Friday, Cory Schneider was strong all night, particularly early. The Canucks new go-to-guy stifled several strong scoring chances in the first five minutes, and earned his fifth career shutout in an eventual 5-0 bleaching.

The turning point came midway through the first. With Daniel Winnik already serving a two-minute minor, Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf delivered a relatively ruthless set of rapid fire cross-checks to Mason Raymond’s neck. Thirty one seconds later, Daniel Sedin buried a 5-on-3 cross-crease pass from his brother to open the scoring.

Raymond followed Daniel’s lead with another power-play goal late in the stanza – the first of two the winger would tally on the night – and the Canucks were well on their way to spoiling their opponent’s home opener.

Fans weren’t overly pleased with the nine power-play opportunities the officials handed Vancouver compared to the two for Anaheim, but most were glaringly obvious and well-deserved. In the third, Daniel set up Zack Kassian for a goal – the Canucks’ third with the man-advantage – that mirrored Sedin’s first period tally.

Vancouver showed early on and throughout that they have no intention of being victims this year. Aaron Volpatti – who picked up his third career NHL goal off a turnover in the second – bested Matt Beleskey less than two minutes in. A surly Kevin Bieksa earned a draw with Beleskey early in the third, and challenged an uninterested Bryan Allen earlier in the game after the former Canuck trampled Jannik Hansen.

Vancouver (2-1-1) rounds out their three game California road-trip with stops in San Jose on Sunday and, in their first meeting since the playoffs, Los Angeles on Monday.

                       ********************************************************

Other game notes:

                -Perhaps in celebration of matching Stan Smyl for second in all-time Canucks games played, Henrik Sedin treated himself to a rare selfish moment in the first. Hank looked off several passing opportunities and – unsuccessfully – took it in alone on a near end-to-end rush.

               -Alex Burrows couldn’t cash in on a penalty shot in the second. Vancouver’s new second line center bobbled the puck just before transitioning into his usual forehand-to-backhand deke and ran out of room before he could lift the puck over Ducks netminder Jonas Hiller.

               -Vancouver play-by-play guy John Shorthouse’s assertion that Corey Perry is among the poorest losers in the game is spot on. Spurred on by the lopsided score and what he thought was a late hit by Alex Edler, the selective agitator finished with nine minutes in penalties. Most of that came from jumping a surprised Keith Ballard, pulling his shirt over his head, and tossing a few uppercuts before the referees jumped in.

               -In his second NHL game, 22-year old former first-rounder Jordan Schroeder picked up his first career point – an assist in the third on Raymond’s second goal of the night.