VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) - Minus their captain and leading scorer, the Anaheim Ducks didn’t miss a beat.
Corey Perry and Patrick Eaves scored 74 seconds apart early in the first period, and the playoff-bound Ducks cruised past the listless Vancouver Canucks 4-1 on Tuesday night to extend their season-high winning streak to five games.
Ryan Getzlaf, who leads the Ducks with 66 points, skated in warmups but was a late scratch with a lower-body injury. Anaheim was unfazed, grabbing a 2-0 lead just 1:37 into the game.
“It was huge,” Perry said. “It’s a big hole. (Getzlaf) has been playing some of his best hockey all season and guys stepped up.”
Nick Ritchie, with a goal and an assist, and Brandon Montour also scored for Anaheim, which clinched a playoff spot earlier in the night when the Edmonton Oilers defeated the Los Angeles Kings 2-1.
“It’s a feather in our players’ cap,” Ducks coach Randy Carlyle said. “We feel that we’ve got a pretty good hockey club.
“The next step for us is just to continue along the path that we’ve been on.”
Jonathan Bernier made 34 saves and Antoine Vermette added two assists as the Pacific Division leaders improved to 9-1-1 over their last 11 games. Anaheim is two points up on Edmonton and San Jose.
Bernier is 9-0-1 with a .947 save percentage over his last 10 starts.
Carlyle said the injury to Getzlaf, who has 14 goals and 52 assists, surfaced Monday night.
“He didn’t feel right (Tuesday) morning and couldn’t get it loosened up,” the coach explained. “We just made the decision we’re not going to sacrifice a guy who’s been our best player.”
Highly touted rookie forward Brock Boeser scored in his home debut for Vancouver, dominated for 40 minutes before coming on a bit in the third when the Ducks took their foot off the gas.
“We certainly don’t plan that,” Canucks goalie Ryan Miller said after making 35 saves. “Attention to detail wasn’t there.”
The Canucks were eliminated from playoff contention Thursday and are 2-7-2 over their last 11 games.
Anaheim scored 23 seconds in when Vermette stripped Canucks defenseman Alexander Edler behind the Vancouver net. Ritchie swept the puck in front to Perry, who beat Miller over the glove for his 16th of the season.
Eaves then scored his fifth goal in the last five games at 1:37 after taking a pass from Rickard Rakell and firing a shot past Miller’s blocker for his 28th.
“Our intensity level wasn’t good enough,” Canucks coach Willie Desjardins said. “We didn’t win any 1-on-1s.”
Anaheim defenseman Cam Fowler nearly made it 3-0 a couple of minutes later off the rush, but his backhand effort that squeaked through Miller’s pads was fished off the goal line by Vancouver counterpart Christopher Tanev.
The Ducks kept coming and finally got their third goal with 15.4 seconds left in the period. Anaheim controlled the puck in the offensive zone after an icing call before Ritchie tipped Josh Manson’s shot through traffic past a frustrated Miller for his 14th.
“We gave them three goals and then we started playing,” Canucks captain Henrik Sedin said. “It’s too good of a league to do that against a great team.”
Anaheim made it 4-0 at 3:44 of the second, moments after Miller stopped Jakob Silfverberg on a partial breakaway, when Montour’s point shot off a faceoff beat the Vancouver goalie through a screen for his second.
Bernier made a nice save on the 20-year-old Boeser just more than a minute into the third before also stopping Michael Chaput on the rebound.
But the Anaheim netminder couldn’t get a handle on Boeser’s next shot, which leaked through his legs with traffic in front at 2:34 for the rookie’s second NHL goal in three career games.
“I just want to get a puck to the net there,” Boeser said. “Luckily there’s a screen and it trickled in.”
NOTES: Selected 23rd overall at the 2015 draft, Boeser scored the winner in his debut Saturday, a 4-2 road victory over Minnesota. … John Gibson dressed as Anaheim’s backup after missing seven straight games and 13 of the last 14 with a lower-body injury.
UP NEXT
Ducks: Continue a four-game road trip through Western Canada on Thursday against Winnipeg.
Canucks: Host the Kings on Friday.
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This story has been corrected to show Bernier made 34 saves.
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