Defenceman Brandon Montour had the first two-goal game of his NHL career, lifting the host Anaheim Ducks to a 3-0 win over the Vancouver Canucks Wednesday at the Honda Center.
Anaheim went into the matchup two points behind Los Angeles for the third Pacific Division seed in the Western Conference.
The Canucks (25-35-9) were held scoreless for the third straight game. Jason Chimera also scored for the Ducks (34-24-12).
John Gibson stopped all 32 shots he faced. Jacob Markstrom took the loss, stopping 34 Anaheim shots.
Anaheim took an early lead at 17:34 of the first period, with Montour getting his seventh of the season despite the Canucks having four shots in the first 90 seconds of the game.
Montour received a give-and-go from Jason Chimera then sniped the puck past Markstrom’s blocker to make it 1-0.
Vancouver’s Michael Del Zotto rifled a slap shot past Gibson but off of the post with five minutes left to play in the first period.
It took a while for either teams to record a goal in the second, as Chimera stretched the Ducks’ lead to 2-0 at 6:16.
Anaheim’s Chris Kelly shoved over Vancouver’s Nic Dowd and then sent a one-timer towards Chimera who snapped it past Markstrom for his third goal of the season.
On an Anaheim power play with 42 seconds to play in the third, Montour counted his second goal of the game and eighth of the season.
Ducks forward Nick Ritchie corralled the puck infront of Markstrom, then sent it to Montour who put the puck into the back of the net.
Vancouver plays home to San Jose on Saturday (7 p.m.).
GAME NOTES:
Vancouver: The Canucks have not scored a goal in 212 minutes of play.
Anaheim: Defenceman Kevin Bieksa played with Vancouver from 2005 to 2015… Centre Ryan Kesler scored 41 goals for Vancouver in 2010-11 en route to the Stanley Cup finals… Centre Derek Grant was born in Abbotsford and played for the Abbotsford Pilots in the PJHL and the Langley Chiefs in the BCHL.
