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Morrison scores twice as Canucks hold off Thrashers

Feb 11, 2007 - 7:02 AM VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Ticker) -- Brendan Morrison finally broke out of his slump.

Morrison scored two goals as the Vancouver Canucks jumped to a big lead before holding on for a 3-2 triumph over the Atlanta Thrashers.

Captain Markus Naslund also scored for the Canucks, who improved to 4-0-0 against Southeast Division opponents this season and won for just the third time in their last seven home games.

"(The Thrashers) were all of what I expected," Vancouver coach Alain Vigneault said. "You could tell they have speed and skill and execution."

Morrison, who entered with just one goal in his previous 12 games, gave Vancouver a 1-0 lead 1:44 into the game, wristing a shot from the top of the right faceoff circle past goaltender Kari Lehtonen.

The Canucks scored twice in a span of 10 seconds midway through the second for a 3-0 cushion. Naslund began the burst at 9:02, when his slap shot while on the power play deflected off Atlanta defenseman Niclas Havelid's shin pad and past Lehtonen.

"I was just looking for an opening, and fortunately it got through," said Naslund, who has six goals and 11 assists in his last 14 games.

Morrison completed his second multi-goal game of the season at 9:12, deflecting blue-liner Sami Salo's shot from the right point past Lehtonen for his 14th tally.

"Sami put a good shot on and I was able to get a piece of it in front," said Morrison, who also scored twice in a 4-3 win over Detroit on November 22.

Atlanta got on the board less than four minutes later on Jon Sim's 15th of the season and drew within one when Ilya Kovalchuk scored on a 5-on-3 power play with 5 1/2 minutes to go in the third.

"Unfortunately, they had a 5-on-3 and got a second goal to get right back in it," Vancouver All-Star netminder Roberto Luongo said. "It was a little scrambly at the end, but it was a great effort, I think, for 60 minutes."

Kovalchuk netted his 32nd of the season when he blasted a shot from the slot past a screened Luongo. But it was not enough for the Thrashers, who have dropped four of five.

"(Luongo) made a couple good saves and I missed an empty net," Kovalchuk said. "But we can't play like this right from the start. To give a 3-0 lead to a team like that is not very good. We didn't play our best tonight."

"They got the lead, but we kept coming, and we made a pretty good game out of it," Atlanta coach Bob Hartley said. "But they played pretty good and we just couldn't get the equalizer at the end. We missed some pretty good chances, but we just fell one short."

Luongo made 27 saves for Vancouver, which has won four of its last seven games. He notched his 31st victory, moving into second place behind New Jersey's Martin Brodeur, who has 34.

"We got some great saves from Louie and it was a huge two points," Vigneault said. "That's why we pay Louie the big bucks."

Lehtonen stopped 30 shots one game after making a season-high 45 saves in a 6-3 win over Colorado on Thursday. But he fell to 1-3-1 with 17 goals against in his last five starts.

All-Star right wing Marian Hossa assisted on Kovalchuk's goal but was held to just one shot. Hossa has 33 tallies, one behind league leaders Alex Ovechkin of Washington and Vincent Lecavalier of Tampa Bay.