• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Demitra nets overtime winner as Canucks top Flames

Oct 12, 2008 - 6:45 AM CALGARY, Alberta (Ticker) -- Pavol Demitra endeared himself to his new team on Saturday.

Demitra scored with 66 seconds remaining in overtime as the Vancouver Canucks swept a home-and-home series against the Calgary Flames with a 5-4 triumph.

Daniel Sedin netted two goals and Rick Rypien and Ryan Kesler also tallied for Vancouver, which recorded a decisive 6-0 victory over the Flames on Thursday in a battle of Northwest Division rivals.

"In our division, these are four-point games," Rypien said. "It is still early in the season, but you get the points early, it's going to add up in the end."

Michael Cammalleri and Rene Bourque notched a goal and an assist apiece for Calgary, which was unable to hold a 3-1 lead after one session and a 4-3 edge after two periods.

"We just stuck to what we needed to do and our guys battled hard," Vancouver coach Alain Vigneault said. "We came back in the second. We wanted to win the second, we won the second. We wanted to win the third, we won the third, and we were able to get it done in overtime."

"When you give up a lead that you have got a pretty good grasp on after they get a quick goal, we definitely weren't as tight as we have to be around the net," Calgary coach Mike Keenan said. "That's how they got back into the game, no question about it."

Former Canuck Todd Bertuzzi and enforcer Andre Roy also scored and defenseman Dion Phaneuf added two assists for the Flames, who went 0-for-7 on the power play.

Taking advantage of a turnover by Cammalleri in the offensive zone in overtime, Alex Burrows gained possession and skated up ice on a 2-on-1 rush. Burrows showed great patience before slipping the puck to Demitra, who knocked it past goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff for the game-winner.

"When you go to the net, good things happen," Demitra said. "I was a little bit lucky, but Burrows made a good play. I think he lost the puck, and it came right to my stick and I just put it in the net."

The tally was the first in a Canucks uniform for Demitra, who signed with the club in the offseason after scoring just 15 goals for the Minnesota Wild last campaign. His 54 points were the fewest since recording 45 in 44 games with the St. Louis Blues in 2000-01.

With 86 seconds remaining in regulation, Bertuzzi put the Flames in jeopardy when he was called for a boarding penalty on Ryan Johnson. The Canucks were unable to cash in on their fifth power play of the evening, however, thanks to some steady goaltending from Kiprusoff.

"At minimum, the referee ignored Johnson's dive," Keenan said. "I thought they were encouraged to take that out of the game, but obviously their judgment in this situation wasn't going to be part of what Johnson sold. It's disappointing that the officials didn't make a call for diving."

"That's a very tough call," Flames captain Jarome Iginla said. "(The official) doesn't have the privilege of replay, like we do, to know that was a miscall. He's only human, and that one falls at a tough time. But we had a big kill and we got to overtime and got an important point."

Iginla was held without a point for the second consecutive game, but he did find his name on the scoresheet after a brutal fight in the first period with Vancouver defenseman Willie Mitchell.

"They have a great leader, obviously, in Jarome, and he was a man on a mission tonight. But you know, Willie was a man on a mission, too, and he did a great job defensively against him," Vigneault said. "And he stood up toe to toe, and if Jarome's sweater doesn't rip, I don't think he wins that one."

Kiprusoff made 29 saves in the contest, while captain Roberto Luongo stopped 25 shots for Vancouver.