VANCOUVER, British Columbia _ What was fait accompli for the Anaheim Ducks truly became certainty Tuesday night.
It was only a matter of time before the Ducks punched their ticket to the Stanley Cup playoffs and that was officially done for the fifth consecutive season Tuesday night, with an easy 4-1 win over the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena also keeping them very much in play for a Pacific Division title.
Entrance was gained the moment the Kings lost at Edmonton, which also clinched spots for the Oilers and San Jose. The Ducks (42-23-11) hadn't won yet at the time of inclusion but they were well on their way to a season-high fifth straight victory.
Goals from Corey Perry, Patrick Eaves and Nick Ritchie in the opening period paved the way for the eventual outcome. Perry and Eaves scored within the first 97 seconds and the soaring Ducks, on a 9-1-1 run over the last 11 games, were never seriously threatened.
"The feeling now is we're not supposed to be satisfied," Ducks center Nate Thompson said. "We're happy with the way we've been playing. At the same time, we have to realize these are big games. It's probably going to come down to the wire.
"This is a fun time of year so we're enjoying it. But we have to make sure that we're playing the way we need to play. Playing 60 minutes. Doing the things that makes us successful as a team."
All that was left in question was whether Jonathan Bernier could write in another zero on his resume. A third shutout for this season fizzled away when Canucks rookie Brock Boeser scored at 2:34 of the third, his second in three games since joining the team after signing his first pro contract Friday.
But Bernier continues to rack up wins and his 34-save effort came with John Gibson now watching from the bench. Gibson is now ready to play after missing seven more games due to lingering lower-body issues but Bernier is 9-0-1 in his last 10 starts.
The Ducks will want to get Gibson in the net to get him ready for the postseason and there are games on back-to-back nights in Edmonton and Calgary to end their final road trip. But when the subject was broached Tuesday morning, Ducks coach Randy Carlyle didn't sound ready to turn over the net.
"He's going to have to earn his spot because the guy that's been in there has been pretty good," Carlyle said. "That's the way we're going to deal with it."
The Ducks did what they wanted against an injury-ravaged Vancouver team that wasn't particularly deep to begin with. And they did it without red-hot captain Ryan Getzlaf, who opted to sit this one out to rest a nagging lower-body injury he tried to test in the warm-up.
It took all of 23 seconds for the rout to begin. Ritchie dropped a pass for Perry, who snapped a wrist shot past Canucks goalie Ryan Miller for his second goal in three games and 16th of the season.
Eaves then continued to show how much of a valuable addition he's become after General Manager Bob Murray got him out of Dallas for a 2017 high-round draft pick. The bearded winger fired in a pass from Rickard Rakell for his seventh goal with the Ducks, pushing him to 28 in a career season.
Ritchie finished the first-period deluge against Miller and the overwhelmed Canucks by providing a screen and getting credit for his 14th goal off a shot from Josh Manson. Brandon Montour later got his second career score while Antoine Vermette had two assists for his first points since coming back from suspension.
