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First-period flurry fuels Canucks

Mar 7, 2008 - 7:22 AM VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Ticker) -- The Vancouver Canucks benefited from a balanced scoring attack and a four-goal first period to skate to a 6-2 victory over the Nashville Predators on Thursday.

Six different players scored a goal and Daniel Sedin and defenseman Sami Salo collected three assists apiece as the Canucks (33-24-10) pulled even in points with the Predators (34-26-8) for eighth place in the Western Conference.

Alex Burrows, Matt Pettinger, rookie Mason Raymond, Ryan Shannon and blue-liners Alex Edler and Kevin Bieksa all tallied for Vancouver, which won for the first time in five games (1-2-2).

"It's always big to get the first goal, that's for sure," Sedin said of his team's first-period outburst. "We kept going the whole game. It's nice to see everyone chip in. It was a great team effort."

Vernon Fiddler and defenseman Greg de Vries scored for Nashville, which saw its modest two-game winning streak come to an end.

With his team shorthanded, Burrows opened the scoring just 37 seconds into the contest by using his considerable speed to chase down a loose puck in the offensive zone and wristing a shot past goaltender Dan Ellis for a shorthanded goal.

"It was a race between me and their D-man," Burrows said. "It was going to be a tight-angle shot, and I was just trying to pick a corner there, and I was able to get it over his glove."

After Edler doubled the advantage during a 5-on-3 power play 3 1/2 minutes later, Fiddler halved the deficit just 14 seconds afterward by backhanding the puck past All-Star netminder Roberto Luongo while shorthanded.

Pettinger regained Vancouver's two-goal advantage at 6:09 with his third goal of the season - and first as a member of the Canucks - and 100th career point.

The goal ended the evening for Ellis, who stopped just eight of 11 shots in just over six minutes of action. Ellis, who was 7-1-1 with one shutout over his previous nine starts, was relieved by Chris Mason.

"We didn't really give (Ellis) much help," Nashville defenseman Shea Weber said. "He's been so solid for us as of late, it's tough for him to come in like that and get shelled. It's really not his fault."

De Vries drew Nashville within 3-2 just 12 seconds later, but Bieksa wristed a shot from the left faceoff circle between the pads of Mason with 1:57 remaining to complete Vancouver's first-period outburst.

"I guess we're a pretty high-scoring team, but that's not the way we're going to win," de Vries said. "We're not going to trade chances with teams and win, 6-5. We're going to win playing good defense, and we didn't do that tonight."

Raymond gave the Canucks a three-goal bulge 93 seconds into the middle period, gathering his own rebound as he circled behind the net and wristing the puck past Mason for his eighth goal of the season.

Shannon capped the scoring midway through the third with a power-play goal.

With the outcome no longer in doubt, emotions spilled over in the game's final 90 seconds.

Nashville's Jordin Tootoo checked Aaron Miller into the boards, sending Vancouver's defenseman to the locker room with an injured right shoulder. Tootoo was given a cross-checking minor and boarding major for the hit.

"Hitting is part of the game," Tootoo said. "It's a clean hit, shoulder on shoulder. (Miller's) the one that bailed out, and when you bail out, that's when you get injured."

"I don't know why things like that happen and why a player would run 100 feet with the game over," Vancouver coach Alain Vigneault said. "No respect for the game and no respect for the opposition. It's unfortunate. There's a few of that type in the league, and hopefully, the league will deal with it."

With 54 seconds remaining and the Canucks on a late power play, Fiddler shot the puck in the direction of Bieksa, sparking a scrum in which the teams combined for 81 penalty minutes.

"I've got Mason (Raymond's) line out there and their player, he's a professional hockey player, starts to shoot the puck at Kevin's face," Vigneault said. "Come on, the game is over, it's 6-2. I'm not even putting my real power play on the ice here."