Vancouver Canucks will be without their best player when they host the Anaheim Ducks on Wednesday evening.
Quinn Hughes got an unclear injury halfway through the third period by a 6-3 loss at Seattle Kraken on Saturday night. The team’s leading goal scorer practiced for about 15 minutes on Tuesday before leaving in a previously planned departure, said coach Rick Tochet. Tocchet said on Wednesday that Hughes adjusted something against the Kraken.
Hughes status is day to day, Tochet said, but the defender could also be placed on damaged reserve to give him more time to heal.
“He’s a competitor, but sometimes I have to intervene and be the bad guy,” Tochet said. “The guy wants to play. We’re in a dogfight and he’s just that kind of guy.”
Hughes, the defending winner of the Norris Trophy, recently missed six matches with an unclear injury, including the face of the four nations.
He was in his second game back from the injury when Canucks lost to Ducks 5-2 last Thursday.
“He wants to put the team on his back, and that, I think, sometimes affects him,” Tochet said. “Of course he wants to come out there, but he will have to handle when he is going, when he is not going to.”
Canucks has dropped two in a row and four out of five to lose grip on the second Wild card from the Western Conference.
The latest loss for the Kraken was painful in more ways than one. Canucks owned a 3-2 lead halfway through the second period before giving up the last four goals against a team that is far behind them in the position.
“It was a chance for us to draw another couple of points forward (in the position), and we let it slip away,” Vancouver said forward Dakota Joshua. “It’s just our model lately is blowing leads, and we couldn’t get it back.”
The ducks will be short at rest but high on trust after hitting Edmonton Oilers 6-2 on Tuesday evening to remain six points back at the final wild-card place in the west.
“Edmonton has a good team,” said Ducks wing Cutter Gauthier. “They were in the Stanley Cup final last year, and when you get into someone else’s rink, you know it will be a tough night. So I thought we had a good start to the game and we kept our foot on the pedal there and thankfully we could get out with the two points.”
The ducks welcomed Trevor Zegras forward after his three-game suspension, but it was the newly formed line of Gauthier, Mason Mctavish and Sam Colangelo who stood most out against Oilers.
Mctavish did twice, Gauthier delivered three assists and Colangelo had one goal and an assist in his third match since he was recalled from San Diego in the American Hockey League.
“Shortly after each individual shift, only increase each other,” Gauthier said of his line. “Whether it’s a bad game or a good game, we’re there for each other.”
Vancouver can expect to see veteran John Gibson in goal for Anaheim after Lukas Dostal made 32 rescues against Edmonton.
Gibson has performed well against Canucks in his career and owns a 13-5-2 brand with a 2.15 goal-for average and 0.929 savings percentage.
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