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Fitzpatrick's first goal of the season lifts Canucks

Jan 19, 2007 - 5:47 AM OTTAWA (Ticker) -- Defenseman Rory Fitzpatrick's first goal of the season came at a great time for the Vancouver Canucks.

Fitzpatrick ended his drought 13 minutes into the second period and the Canucks held on for their fifth straight victory, a 2-1 triumph over the Ottawa Senators.

Nearly voted in as a starter for the All-Star Game as a write-in candidate, Fitzpatrick gave Vancouver a 2-0 advantage with his first goal since April 5 - also against Ottawa. After receiving a pass from Daniel Sedin, Fitzpatrick unleashed a shot from the high slot that was tipped by Ottawa enforcer Chris Neil and floated toward the net before bouncing in off goaltender Ray Emery's glove.

"It was a shot on net, but I think somebody tipped it," said Fitzpatrick, whose goal came in his 31st game. "I was trying to get a shot on net and someone stuck out a stick and deflected it. I don't care how I got it, it feels good to get one."

"I misplayed the shot that was probably going over the net," Emery said. "It's disappointing and frustrating, especially when you know you can try, like we did, to come back at the end."

The loss snapped a four-game winning streak for Emery, who allowed 11 goals during the stretch.

Earlier in the period, Taylor Pyatt snapped a scoreless tie as defenseman Sami Salo's point shot deflected off his skate and past Emery at 5:29 for a power-play goal.

The Senators halved the deficit at 8:13 of the third, when captain Daniel Alfredsson redirected Dany Heatley's pass from the low slot past netminder Roberto Luongo. The tally extended Alfredsson's goal-scoring streak to six games.

Heatley, whose 63 points leads the Senators, extended his points streak to six games. He has five goals and eight assists during the run.

Emery finished with 12 saves for the Senators, who had their five-game winning streak snapped. Ottawa went 0-for-5 on the power play.

"We had some power plays that just didn't click," Senators defenseman Wade Redden said. "It's disappointing."

Pyatt added an assist and Luongo stopped 34 shots for Vancouver, which has won 10 of its last 11.

"We built up a two-goal lead, so we were pretty much just trying to preserve that lead in the third period," said Luongo, who improved to 10-1-0 in his last 11 games with 23 goals allowed. "It felt really good to get this one."

The Senators blitzed the Canucks in the third period, outshooting them, 14-0, but could not get the equalizer.

"In the third period, they were all over us and Luongo went the distance," Vancouver coach Alain Vigneault said. "I'm not going to apologize for Luongo shutting them down. We wanted to tire their offensive players, and we did it by staying in our zone and letting them go. Luongo made some really big saves tonight."