Ducks Double-Crossed by Sedins and Canucks

There was Daniel Sedin of Vancouver hitting the left post. The rebound came bouncing out to the right wing to Sedin’s brother and linemate, Henrik, with less than four minutes left in the second period.

He knocked the puck off the right post.

Of course. After all, they are twins.

It was the first, and one of the very few breaks that the Mighty Ducks would receive in an otherwise thorough thrashing at the hands of the Vancouver Canucks. The Canucks received a stellar performance from goaltender Dan Cloutier and two goals from Markus Naslund to defeat the Ducks, 5-2, on Friday night at the Arrowhead Pond before an announced crowd of 15,914.

It was the first Duck loss after two hard-fought ties at home against the Dallas Stars and Kings.

The cosmic twins were the ones who essentially put the game out of reach, making it 3-0 in the second period at 6:53, as Henrik finished off a two-on-none, converting a pass from his brother.

“The twins do everything the same,” Canuck President and General Manager Brian Burke said, shaking his head, who added he had never seen the double-post feat. “...They’re starting to hit their stride. We really believe in those kids.”

By the time the Sedins hit the posts, Duck starting goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere had been relieved, handed a life raft of sorts. He played 33 minutes 19 seconds, getting pulled for Martin Gerber after Naslund’s second-period goal from the edge of the left circle made it 4-0 for the Canucks. Giguere faced 20 shots.

The scoring for the Ducks came a little too late. Defenseman Todd Simpson stopped Cloutier’s bid for his third shutout this season. Simpson had his second of the season, scoring from above the left circle, at 1:09 of the third. Petr Sykora pulled the Ducks within two with his 13th of the season.

Until then, Cloutier had been flawless, stopping the first 33 shots with a variety of spectacular stops. He made a career-high 44 saves, and stayed resolute during a steady flurry of opportunities, particularly in the game’s first 10 minutes. The Ducks thought the first period was quite possibly their best of the season only to emerge down a goal after 20 minutes.

“The frustration part is with the fact you think you did so many great things and got nothing for it,” Duck Coach Mike Babcock said.

Said Simpson: “The first period there, we got a lot of good chances, and we just couldn’t bury them. We’ve got to play better defensively. We can’t be allowing four goals (and an empty-netter). We’re not going to win too many of those games.”

Giguere had a suggestion.

“We’re not a team that’s going to score a lot of goals,” he said. “We’ve got to make sure we play better defensively. And try to win a game 2-1 instead of trying to win 4-3. Right now we can only be happy when we get the two points. We can’t accept anything less.”