Sunday November 10 Anaheim Ducks 3 – Vancouver Canucks 1

For just the second time in the 2013-14 NHL season, the Vancouver Canucks have gone two games without collecting any points. Here are the highlights from Sunday’s contest in Anaheim:

The result is troubling in terms of the standings—the Canucks now have three days off before their next game on Thursday. A sparse schedule over the next two weeks will allow their rivals to make up some of their games-in-hand. Once that happens, Vancouver could be on the outside looking in on the playoffs.

In the game itself, the Canucks didn’t look *that* bad. The league-leading Ducks were impressive, especially in goal. Vancouver was right there despite playing its third game in four nights.

The turning point was a breakdown late in the second period on a Canucks line change. After a long pass from Corey Perry, Emerson Etem drew all the coverage his way before sliding the puck across the ice to a wide-open Nick Bonino, who popped what turned out to be the winning goal.

For the third straight game, the Canucks didn’t get a point from their top line. Henrik Sedin was also on the ice for all three Ducks goals. John Tortorella did mix up his top two units in the later stages and said after the game that he thought the group played hard, though he admitted that the power play “sucked.” Are we seeing the twins and Kesler wearing down already after logging such big minutes through the early part of the season?

Though Jonas Hiller was originally announced as the starter for Sunday’s game, he fell ill and was replaced by rookie Frederik Andersen. Undefeated in his first five NHL starts, the big Dane was impressive again, stopping 35 of 36 Vancouver shots on his way to earning the NHL’s second star of the week. The Ducks remain the only team in the league with a perfect home record, now 8-0-0.

In isolation, Sunday’s loss is not terribly worrisome. The Canucks played a decent game against the league’s best team and didn’t get the bounces they needed to win. But after letting Saturday’s game against the Kings also slip away, it makes their next contest against the struggling San Jose Sharks critical when they get back to business in Vancouver on Thursday.

On Monday evening in Toronto, Scott Niedermayer, Brendan Shanahan and Chris Chelios will be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, along with Geraldine Heaney and the late Fred Shero. Let’s take a look at the three NHLers from a B.C. point of view.

In addition to playing countless games against the Canucks, all three players participated in two special events in Vancouver at the peak of their careers: the 1996 World Cup of Hockey and as part of Team North America at the 1998 NHL All-Star Game.

– Scott Niedermayer has the strongest connection to our province. Born in Edmonton, Niedermayer grew up in Cranbrook and played his junior hockey with the powerhouse Kamloops Blazers. The team won two WHL championships during Niedermayer’s three years, and he was named most valuable player when the Blazers won the Memorial Cup in 1992.

One of the best skaters ever to play the game, Niedermayer continued his winning ways during his NHL career: he won four Stanley Cups, a Norris Trophy and a Conn Smythe Trophy. He’s also a member of the Triple Gold Club thanks to his gold medals from the 2002 Olympics and the 2004 World Championships.

Niedermayer is currently an assistant coach with the Anaheim Ducks, but missed Sunday’s game against the Canucks as he has been in Toronto for the Hall of Fame ceremonies.

– For one hot minute back in March of 1994, it looked like Brendan Shanahan could have become a Vancouver Canuck. 22-year-old restricted free agent Petr Nedved had sat out the entire season due to a contract dispute with Vancouver before signing a three-year, $4.05 million contract with the St. Louis Blues.

At that time, the Canucks did not have the right to match the deal. Instead, they had two days to agree on suitable compensation for Nedved, but the teams reached an impasse. As a result, each side submitted their suggested compensation to an independent arbitrator. The Blues offered Craig Janney plus a second-round pick. The Canucks asked for Shanahan.

Shanahan had previously been on the other end of a similar saga: he joined the Blues as a restricted free agent, forcing St. Louis to surrender Scott Stevens to New Jersey as compensation. But he wasn’t moving this time—and neither was Janney. Arbitrator George Nicolau sided with St. Louis but when Janney refused to report, the two sides reworked the deal to send Bret Hedican, Jeff Brown and Nathan Lafayette to the Canucks.

The trio was so instrumental in Vancouver’s Stanley Cup run that spring that Pacific Coliseum fans erupted with a chant of “Thank you Petr!” as the wins kept building. But imagine if that team had Shanahan…

– Chris Chelios’ connection to Vancouver came from the other side of the ice. After spending his first seven NHL seasons in Montreal—and winning a Stanley Cup in 1986—Chelios was traded to Chicago for Denis Savard. He spent a decade hammering the Canucks as a Blackhawk before being traded to the Detroit Red Wings at the 1999 deadline.

The 37-year-old surprised everyone by logging another 10 NHL seasons in Detroit and helping the Wings win two more Stanley Cups. Chelios is currently the executive advisor to Red Wings’ GM Ken Holland.

The Hall of Fame Induction will be shown Monday at 4:30 PT on TSN2.

With the Canucks’ light schedule this week, I’ll have a few surprises here before the next game on Thursday against the Sharks. In the meantime, feel free to follow me on Twitter for more fresh hockey stories I’ll be posting over on Bleacher Report.