| In the interest of speed and timeliness, this story is fed directly from the Associated Press newswire and may contain spelling or grammatical errors. |
Mighty Ducks 3, Canucks 1
Monday March 31, 2003ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) Steve Thomas is fitting in perfectly with the Anaheim Mighty Ducks.
Thomas, acquired from Chicago at the trade deadline, scored his sixth goal in nine games with Anaheim on Sunday night as the Mighty Ducks beat Vancouver 3-1.
``He plays the game the way it is supposed to be played,'' Anaheim captain Paul Kariya said. ``He drives to the net and does the little things well.''
The 39-year-old Thomas has 406 goals in 19 NHL seasons.
``I've played over 100 playoff games, I hope I can convey some thoughts to the younger guys,'' said Thomas, who had only four goals in 69 games with Chicago this season. ``We have a pretty darn good team and we know anything can happen.''
Thomas and Adam Oates scored first-period goal, Petr Sykora scored 41 seconds into the third period, and Martin Gerber, Anaheim's backup goalie, made 41 saves.
``It was a good win for our team, we got great goaltending and got off to a good start,'' Anaheim coach Mike Babcock said. ``But we were way too respectful of them in the second period.''
The loss was just the 10th on the road this season for the Canucks, who remain third in the Western Conference. If the teams hold their current positions, Vancouver would meet Anaheim in the first round of the playoffs.
``We knew coming in that it was going to be a good test,'' Canucks forward Trevor Linden said. ``We did what we wanted to do, but their goalie was too good. He was the difference.''
Vancouver's Markus Naslund scored his NHL-leading 47th goal during a power play in the second to make it 2-1.
But Sykora swatted a loose puck past goalie Dan Cloutier after a pass from Kariya deflected off Oates' skate just outside the crease in the Vancouver zone.
Kariya and defenseman Sandis Ozolinsh each had two assists as Anaheim moved past Minnesota into sixth place in the Western Conference.
``You don't want to read too much into tonight,'' Anaheim center Steve Rucchin said. ``It's a big win for us, but it's just one of our last four regular-season games.''< ^Notes:@ Referee Rob Shick worked his 1,000th NHL game. His first game was at Detroit on April 6, 1986. Shick's wife and family joined him for a pregame ceremony. ... Anaheim forward Cam Severson played in his first game since being recalled from Cincinnati on Thursday.
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