Saturday, Jan. 27 10:00pm ET
Sedin, Ruutu lead Canucks' charge
RECAP
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BOX SCORE
CALGARY, Alberta (AP) -- The Vancouver Canucks got offense from
some unexpected sources.
|  | | Calgary's Wade Belak, left, and Vancouver's Donald Brashear exchange pleasantries. |
Rookie Jarkko Ruutu scored the go-ahead goal and Scott Lanchance
scored his first goal in 123 games as the Canucks beat the Calgary
Flames 5-3 on Saturday night.
Daniel Sedin had a goal and an assist, and Harold Druken and
Markus Naslund also scored for the Canucks, who posted back-to-back
wins coming off a four-game losing skid.
"Everybody understood from the start that this was going to be
a game in which we would all have to work extremely hard,"
Vancouver coach Marc Crawford said. "The Flames are a team that
does make you work to beat them and they played a gritty game all
night. I'm very happy that we persevered and got the victory."
Cory Stillman, Valeri Bure and Dave Lowry scored for Calgary,
which fell to 0-15-3-1 when trailing after the first period.
After Sedin tied it 2-2 at 12:37 of the second period, Ruutu put
the Canucks ahead by taking advantage of a giveaway in his own
zone by Flames defenseman Robyn Regehr.
Mattias Ohlund intercepted Regehr's clearing attempt at the blue
line and passed to Ruutu at the right face-off circle. Ruutu moved
in on Fred Brathwaite, waited for him to drop to his knees, then
fired a shot over Brathwaite's glove.
"I didn't have much room up there, but sometimes you're lucky
and you get those shots through," said Ruutu, playing just his
sixth game of the season. "Anytime you can come back in a game
like that, it's a huge confidence builder for the team."
Druken and Lowry exchanged goals 15 seconds apart early in the
third period.
Calgary came close to tying it on a power play with five minutes
left. Phil Housley faked a shot and slid a pass to Stillman. But
with goaltender Felix Potvin out of position, Stillman hit the far
post.
Naslund added an empty-netter for his league-leading 31st goal
with 1:30 remaining.
"Sure they're a good team, but giving them five goals in our
building is not what we wanted to do," Stillman said. "Whenever
we've played Vancouver this year, it's been a real shootout and
we're trying to get out of that system and instead play them hard,
check them and make them make the mistakes."
Calgary tied it 1-1 just 2:26 into the second when Stillman's
slap shot on a power play deflected off Ohlund and past Potvin on
the blocker side.
The Flames took a 2-1 lead seven minutes later when Bure's wrist
shot went through the legs of a screened Potvin.
But the Canucks made it 2-2 less than three minutes later when
Daniel Sedin scooped up a loose puck along the Calgary boards and
beat Brathwaite.
Vancouver opened the scoring on Lachance's goal.
Vancouver lost left wing Todd Bertuzzi on his first shift when
the Canucks' second-leading scorer bruised a shoulder on a hit by
Flames rookie Steve Begin.
"It was a very well-played game by ourselves," said
Brathwaite, who had 23 saves. "We had some chances -- Stillman has
an empty net and hits the post, the result just wasn't what we
wanted."
Game notes
The Pengrowth Saddledome crowd of 17,139 was Calgary's
ninth sellout of the season, and sixth in eight games. ... Flames
goalie Mike Vernon signed a one-year contract extension before the
game. ... Of Stillman's 19 goals, only four have come at home. ...
Fifty-three of Calgary's 124 goals have come in the second period.
... Potvin made 19 saves.
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
Vancouver Clubhouse
Calgary Clubhouse
RECAPS
Philadelphia 4
Carolina 3
Montreal 4
Washington 2
Minnesota 4
Los Angeles 1
Boston 4
New Jersey 3
Buffalo 2
NY Islanders 1
Toronto 3
NY Rangers 1
Columbus 2
Anaheim 1
Florida 3
Tampa Bay 2
Pittsburgh 5
Atlanta 1
Colorado 5
Nashville 1
San Jose 4
St. Louis 3
Vancouver 5
Calgary 3
FROM
ATHLETESDIRECT
Valeri Bure Official Site
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