As the saying goes, turnabout is fair play.
The NHL opened it's abbreviated 2013 season on Jan 19.
The Vancouver Canucks had their home opener that same night. What could have been a joyous night of Western Canadian hockey fans celebrating the debut of their beloved team, was instead a complete home town downer.
The Canucks were thoroughly embarrassed in 7-3 loss to the Anaheim Ducks.
Fast forward six days, the Ducks are now playing in their home opener, against the Vancouver Canucks.
The Canucks were more than happy to return the favor, and then some.
The game started off well enough for the home team. The Ducks outshot the Canucks, 5-1 in the first 5 mins of play. The game would turn in the 5 mins which followed.
With the game still scoreless, Daniel Winnick was called for holding, at the 8:11 mark. 31 secs later, Ducks Captain Ryan Getzlaf was called for cross-checking, setting up a 2 man advantage for Vancouver.
The Canucks wasted little time. Henrik Sedin took a pass from fellow Swede Alexander Edler, at the bottom of the face off circle in the Anaheim zone, he then rifled a pass through the crease, finding twin brother Daniel on a backdoor play on the far side. Daniel easily found the open corner, and put the Canucks up, 1-0.
The Ducks continued digging their own grave. At 17:01, Bryan Allen was called for interference. This time , it would be Mason Raymond finding the back of the net to give the Canucks a 2-0 lead at the end of the 1st period.
Aaron Volpatti would score the only goal of the 2nd period, and the Canucks took a 3-0 lead into the 3rd.
As the 3rd period began, the Canucks still had 2:44 seconds left on a double minor penalty that had been assessed to Corey Perry late in the 2nd period. The result would be a third power play goal for Vancouver. The culprits would once again be the Sedin boys. This time, Henrik and Daniel worked a beautiful, textbook give-and-go from the left faceoff circle. As Daniel took the return pass, he executed a perfect partial spin-o-rama, and then floated a pass across the crease to a wide open Zack Kassian who scored from nearly the exact same spot where Daniel had tallied in the 1st period.
It was merely a formality when Mason Raymond scored his second goal of the night, with 4:59 left to play.
Vancouver won the game, 5-0. They outshot the Ducks 34-30, and converted 3 of 7 power play chances.
It did not appear as though the Ducks played badly (though skating shorthanded 7 times, does make it tough to win), it was Vancouver playing near-perfect "hockey 101", and putting on a clinic.
There is a reason the Canucks have won the President's trophy the two last seasons - They are a very good hockey team.
The Ducks will have another shot at getting their first home win of the season, as they play host to the Nashville Predators, Saturday night in Anaheim.
Ducks Forward line combinations:
1) Getzlaf/Perry/Palmieri
2) Bonino/Selanne/Ryan
3) Koivu/Cogliano/Winnick
4) Holland/Beleskey/Smith-Pelly
Defense pairings:
Fowler/Allen
Beauchemin/Lydman
Sbisa/Souray
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Contact Charles:
Email - Charles@Officialinsidesports.com
Twitter - @TheInsideSports
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