Markstrom makes 29 saves for Canucks to shut out Ducks

VANCOUVER --Jacob Markstrom made 29 saves for his first shutout of the season, and Bo Horvat scored two goals for the Vancouver Canucks in a 4-0 win against the Anaheim Ducks at Rogers Arena on Monday.

Nikolay Goldobin and Alex Biega scored, and Elias Pettersson had two assists for the Canucks (27-28-8), who ended a three-game losing streak and won in regulation for the first time in 11 games dating to Feb. 2. Vancouver was 2-6-2 between regulation victories.
"It means we won the game," Markstrom said of his first shutout since Feb. 11, 2018. "It's nice to get one, for sure, but that mirrors how we played defense and played the game."
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The Canucks are four points behind the Minnesota Wild for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference and five points ahead of the Ducks.
"That was definitely a huge confidence-booster for us," Horvat said. "We were playing really well last game and not getting any, and then finally get rewarded with four tonight. Definitely feels great."
Kevin Boyle, who shut out Vancouver on Feb. 13 in his first NHL start, made 25 saves for Anaheim (24-30-9), which has lost three games in a row and is 3-11-0 in the past 14.
"As a group, we are not going to feel sorry for ourselves or make excuses, or let people make excuses for us," forward Devin Shore said. "It's tough sledding, but we've all been through situations where things don't go your way, and you can't hope your way out of it; you have to work your way out of it."

Goldobin scored his first goal in nine games with a slap shot off the rush from above the left face-off circle to make it 1-0 at 8:04 of the first period.
"I was looking to pass, but coach showed me the video that I shoot high all the time, so I just tried to shoot lower, and it went in," said Goldobin, who was a healthy scratch eight times in the previous 20 games. "You always have barriers in your life, but who's strongest is who's going to continue to work hard and who's going to succeed in life."
Biega made it 2-0 at 16:40 with a point shot that skipped under Boyle's pads, and Horvat scored on the power play at 2:22 of the second period to make it 3-0.

"It just seems for whatever reason we are chasing games, and that's tough and that can get frustrating, but you can't accept losing that easily," Ducks assistant coach Marty Wilford said.
Brock Boeser skated into the slot before backhanding a pass to Horvat at the side of the net for a sharp-angled tap-in. It was the fifth power-play goal in 59 chances over 20 games for Vancouver, which came into the game tied with Anaheim for 27th in the NHL with the man-advantage (15.2 percent).
"I think it was a relief for those guys," Canucks coach Travis Green said.
Horvat scored again 7:12 into the third period to make it 4-0 with a high wrist shot from above the left hash marks, giving him an NHL career-best 23 goals.
"I'm far from the peak of my career," Horvat said. "I still have a lot of work to do, a lot to improve on."

Markstrom made the best save of his third NHL shutout on Rickard Rakell's shot from the top of the crease with 29 seconds left in the second period.
Ducks forward Derek Grant had a chance to end the shutout when he got to the puck to the right of the net after his initial shot caromed off the end boards 11:06 into the third period, but Markstrom got a piece to force the rebound attempt wide.
"You have stretches when you play so good and you feel like they don't have to work as hard to score a goal," Anaheim defenseman Hampus Lindholm said. "It's been like that for a couple games."

They said it

"It weighs on you. We are all competitive people and everybody wants to win, so obviously it's weighing on you and you can't have that defeated mindset when you fall behind, like, 'Poor me, I can't come back.' We just can't accept losing." -- Ducks assistant coach Marty Wilford
"I didn't even know that was his first, to be honest. He's had such a good year that he probably deserves a few more, and you are happy for him." -- Canucks coach Travis Green on Jacob Markstrom's shutout

Need to know

Ducks center Ryan Getzlaf missed his third straight game with an upper-body injury. … Defenseman Brendan Guhle made his Anaheim debut one day after being acquired in a trade from the Buffalo Sabres. He was minus-1 with five shots on goal in 18:15. … Goalie Ryan Miller missed the game with a minor injury, so Angus Redmond, who is from the Vancouver area, was called up from San Diego of the American Hockey League to back up Boyle. … Defenseman Luke Schenn made his Canucks debut in place of Erik Gudbranson, who was traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins earlier Monday. Schenn was plus-1 with three shots on goal and four hits in 15:07.

What's next

Ducks:Host the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday (10 p.m. ET; NBCSN, NBCSCH+)
Canucks: At the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday (9:30 p.m. ET; SNP, ALT, NHL.TV)