Canucks and Ducks Head in Opposite Directions in the NHL's Topsy-Turvy Pacific

Just over three weeks ago, I wrote about how the Vancouver Canucks and Anaheim Ducks were boasting the biggest year-over-year improvements in the NHL through the first 10 games of their seasons.

But when the two clubs clashed for the first time this year at Rogers Arena on Tuesday, the situation had shifted considerably.

The Canucks bounced back from a weekend road loss to the last-place San Jose Sharks with a workmanlike 3-1 win over the Ducks, who dropped their seventh in a row.

Following up their 7-2-1 start with a record of 8-5-0, Vancouver has now put together the best start in its 53-year franchise history. After Tuesday's win, the Canucks are one point behind the league-leading Vegas Golden Knights.

By opening the scoring and finishing the night with a rare power-play empty netter, Brock Boeser took over the NHL's goal-scoring lead thanks to his 16th and 17th of the year. 

The Ducks dominated the middle frame, outshooting the Canucks 27-12 through 40 minutes and tying the game when Ryan Strome picked the top corner on the power play.

But the Canucks redoubled their effort to start the third, and Elias Pettersson scored what proved to be the game-winner on a wraparound just 32 seconds into the frame.

The Canucks outshot the Ducks 15-4 in the final frame.

As for Anaheim, they looked like they were onto something early in the year, with new coach Greg Cronin behind the bench and a revamped roster that included rugged blueliner Radko Gudas and some impressive young talents. 

But Gudas missed Tuesday's game with a lower-body injury, Ilya Lybushkin played less than seven minutes on Tuesday before leaving with an injury of his own, and sixth overall pick Jamie Drysdale has been on injured reserve since the third game of the year, after the 21-year-old played just eight games last season. That left Anaheim's defense paper thin, and the team also elected to rest this year's second overall pick, Leo Carlsson, for a second straight game.

Vancouver coach Rick Tocchet was quick to credit Anaheim for being a "hard-working team" that brought a good effort after an ugly 8-2 loss in Edmonton on Sunday, but the Ducks have now gone 3-9-0 since their 6-4-0 start. Ten games in, they were in a wild-card spot. Now, they've fallen behind the Calgary Flames and Seattle Kraken in the Pacific Division standings, and the Oilers are hot on their heels.

At the beginning of the month, I wondered if we'd see our first in-season coaching change before U.S. Thanksgiving. We did, and it came in the Pacific, when the floundering Oilers cut ties with Jay Woodcroft on Nov. 12. 

Edmonton was a grim 2-7-1 through its first 10 games and bottomed out at 2-9-1. Since then, the Oilers have gone 6-3-0. A pair of wins over Seattle could prove important when the final playoff spots are being decided in April. And a 5-4 shootout win over Vegas in front of their home fans on Tuesday was a nice slice of revenge after last year's playoffs, as well as a confidence-builder for a group that is starting to believe in itself again — and see Connor McDavid getting back to his usual can't-miss self.

With 15 points in his last five games, McDavid has climbed from 103rd in the points race on Nov. 18 (4-9-13 in 14 games) into the top 10 as of Wednesday (8-20-28 in 19 games).

If he keeps putting up three points a game, McDavid will be back at the top of the scoring race within a week or two. But so far, the Oilers haven't made up much ground in the standings. On Nov. 5, they were 2-7-1 and six points out of a wild-card spot. On Nov. 29, they're 8-12-1 — and five points out. 

The top three teams in the division are unchanged — Vegas, Vancouver and Los Angeles. But the Golden Knights have cooled after their torrid 9-0-1 start. They're 5-5-3 in their last 13 games, but that's still good enough for 32 points, and first place overall.

But keep an eye on the Los Angeles Kings. They're the mirror image of their SoCal siblings, the Ducks, riding a five-game winning streak and 7-1-1 since their solid 6-2-2 start. 

The Kings have played just 19 games so far — the fewest in the Western Conference and four fewer than Vegas and Vancouver. Their record looks even more impressive if you sort by points percentage: at .763, they're second in the league behind the New York Rangers (.775).

Los Angeles also has arguably the most impressive set of underlying numbers in the league right now. Their 5-on-5 expected goals share of 57.94 percent ranks first, according to naturalstattrick.com. Their plus-29 goal differential is second behind Vancouver (plus-34). They've taken over the lead in scoring from the Canucks, averaging 4.00 goals per game, and they're first in goals against at 2.37 goals per game. They also have the best penalty kill in the league (89.6 percent), and their power play is just fine, at 20.8 percent. 

Kings GM Rob Blake's strategy of adding one or two quality pieces to his roster every off-season looks like it has paid off. Even with their low-wattage goalie tandem of Cam Talbot and Pheonix Copley, the Kings look like a team with very few vulnerabilities.

Now hovering right around the wild-card line, the Calgary Flames and Seattle Kraken have both made some progress since the early part of the season. Calgary is 7-3-2 since its 10-game mark and has gotten some nice contributions from new faces, such as Martin Pospisil and Connor Zary. But when Blake Coleman leads the team with six goals, there should be more to give from Elias Lindholm, Nazem Kadri and, yes, much-maligned Jonathan Huberdeau.

As with Edmonton, the Flames also took down Vegas in extra time in their last game — a 2-1 overtime win on Monday, with MacKenzie Weegar potting the winner. Calgary has never faced the Golden Knights in the playoffs, but a win over the league's top team always puts some wind in the sails of a group that has had its struggles.

Things are also going better for the Kraken, who are 5-5-3 after a 3-5-2 start. But Seattle still seems prone to setbacks and is now back on a two-game losing streak after falling to Vancouver last Friday and then to Chicago on Tuesday.

Even San Jose deserves a shout-out for improved play. The Sharks' 11-game winless skid to open the season is the longest of the year in the NHL so far (0-10-1). But after hitting rock bottom by allowing 10 goals in back-to-back games against Vancouver and Pittsburgh, the Sharks are now a respectable 5-5-1 in their last 11. 

They still don't score much — their 5-1 win over the St. Louis Blues on Nov. 16 was the high-water mark for the season so far. They were also able to extract a measure of revenge on the Canucks with a gritty 4-3 victory last Saturday — their first win in 12 tries, dating back to Dec. 14, 2019.

The Kings get back into action on Wednesday, hosting the Washington Capitals at Crypto.com Arena. Meanwhile, the Canucks will be part of two intriguing head-to-head matchups as they close out a Pacific-heavy section of their schedule with two more games later this week.

Vancouver will host Vegas on Thursday, with the top spot in the division potentially on the line. Then, on Saturday, it's back to Calgary. The Flames prevailed easily, 5-2, in the teams' first meeting of the year at the Saddledome on Nov. 16.