In Game One at the Pond in the Western semis, the Ducks still lead the Canucks 3-1 after two periods of play. The Canucks got on the scoreboard first when grinder Jeff Cowan beat Jean-Sebastien Giguere unassisted at 7:07 in period one.

Considering that the Canucks had an early two-man advantage with two valuable Ducks’ penalty killing forwards Rob Niedermayer and Samuel Pahlsson in the box, they could’ve been up more at that point. But Giguere was on his game including a robbery of Trevor Linden in front off a great play by the Sedins.

The Ducks were able to respond after Cowan’s tally by making Vancouver pay for a bench minor for too many men. Top pivot Andy McDonald pounced on a loose puck off a Chris Pronger rebound and put it past Roberto Luongo for his first of the series at 9:24. It seemed to get Anaheim going. Before the stanza was out, McDonald had also setup a go-ahead goal from top sniper Teemu Selanne and then gotten his second of the night from the Finnish Flash in the final minute. Underrated linemate Chris Kunitz notched secondary assists on those two goals.

Giguere has made 14 saves thus far while Luongo has been busier making 20 stops after two stanzas.

One thought as they enter the final period. If that Anaheim top line is going to score at that clip, it’s going to be a really short series. They’re very good but when you consider the support they should have from the Kid line of Dustin Penner, Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf plus the lethal duo of Pronger and team captain Scott Niedermayer on the blueline, it spells big trouble for Vancouver.

They better get it in gear soon. Falling down two wouldn’t be good for morale, especially after such a hard fought seven-game series against Dallas. We’ll see what they’re made of.