Heading into Sunday’s game against the Anaheim Ducks, the Vancouver Canucks had lost six of their last seven games. It wasn’t just the results that were concerning but the process. The Canucks were losing too many puck battles, turning over too many pucks, and getting away from the style of play that has made them so successful this season. It felt like the Canucks needed to push a reset button to set everything right.
A game against the cellar-dwelling Ducks presented the perfect opportunity for the Canucks to make like Tim Allen in Galaxy Quest and activate the Omega 13. The result may not look like much — a one-goal win against a team that the Canucks should, by all rights, dominate — but the process was monumentally improved. Right from puck drop, the Canucks were blatantly the better team, out-shooting the Ducks 14-to-3 in the first period. They crashed in on the forecheck, closed off passing lanes, clogged up shooting lanes, and just generally made life miserable for the Ducks all over the ic