Final
Luongo superb in goal as Canucks triumph
Jan 29, 2007 - 6:55 AM VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Ticker) -- It was all Luongo all the time.Roberto Luongo stopped 39 shots and the Vancouver Canucks won the battle of the special teams as they snapped a two-game losing streak en route to 3-1 victory over the San Jose Sharks.
Taylor Pyatt contributed to two second-period goals as the Canucks improved to 11-1-2 since December 26.
After Joe Pavelski scored his first goal in nine games 70 seconds into the second stanza to give San Jose a 1-0 lead, Vancouver scored twice in the period as Luongo made 22 saves and helped kill off two power plays from the No. 1 unit in the league. The Sharks entered converting 20-of-51 in their last eight games.
"Yeah we got a win and he again showed that, in my mind, he's probably the best (goaltender) out there," Vancouver captain Markus Naslund said. "He amazes me every day, he's playing unreal. We see it all the time in practice.
"That's why a lot of us lose confidence we can't score on him. But he's definitely playing outstanding. Having a goalie like that, you know you have a chance to go really far in the playoffs."
Vancouver entered the contest killing 29 consecutive power plays and it denied San Jose all five times.
"(Luongo) obviously was the difference," Sharks coach Ron Wilson said. "Early in the game and in the second period when we had 23 shots, I know he didn't see some of them. But the fact is he managed to find a way to stop the puck. And he ended up being the difference in game, simple.
"Luongo kept stopping pucks. We should have made it 2- or 3-0. "There's no secret there."
Luongo was forced to make 11 saves against the man advantage, many of the electrifying variety, but the Sharks did not get a shot on their last two attempts - both in the third stanza. The All-Star stopped 40 shots in a 3-2 overtime loss to Los Angeles on Friday. He did not seem concerned about the number of shots he has faced.
"It seems like we give up more shots, we get more wins. The guys played a great third period, we played really disciplined and stuck to our system," Luongo said. "I just try to do my job night in and night out. Some nights I'm going to bail them out and some nights they're going to bail me out. That's the way it works on a team, so as long as we win, it's all that matters.
"We didn't give up that many chances. Most of the times the shots were from the outside, so I was able to handle them easily.
The Canucks tied the game at 1-1 with 7:29 left in the second on the power play. Naslund picked up the puck in the Vancouver zone, skated through the neutral zone and sent a tape-to-tape pass to Pyatt as he snuck behind the San Jose defense. Pyatt went in all alone, deked to his forehand and beat netminder Evgeni Nabokov blocker-side.
"It was a great pass, I was able to sneak behind the defenseman, he put the pass right on my stick and I was able to come in, saw a little room and put it in," Pyatt said.
"I know that (Pyatt) likes to cut in behind the D and I knew I had a split second there to get him the puck and he finished it off nicely."
Daniel Sedin scored his team-high 18th goal 2:18 later for a 2-1 lead. Henrik Sedin carried the puck over San Jose's blue line, left it for Pyatt, who lumbered down the right wing with one hand on his stick and one hand holding off Pavelski. Pyatt centered the puck to Daniel Sedin standing in front of the net, and he one-timed the puck top shelf through Nabokov.
Brendan Morrison added an empty-netter with 10 seconds left to seal the victory.
San Jose outshot Vancouver, 39-24, but failed to record a season-high fifth straight road victory.
"That's hockey," San Jose center Patrick Marleau said. "You win games that way and sometimes you don't. We played pretty well but we didn't get the result."
- NHL
FINAL 1ST 2ND 3RD TOTAL
--- --- --- -----
SAN JOSE 0 1 0 1
VANCOUVER 0 2 1 3 FINAL
GOAL SCORING:
1ST PRD: NONE
2ND PRD: SAN - JOE PAVELSKI 10 (MILAN MICHALEK, CHRISTIAN EHRHOFF)
1:10
VAN - (PP) TAYLOR PYATT 14 (MARKUS NASLUND, KEVIN BIEKSA)
12:31
VAN - DANIEL SEDIN 18 (TAYLOR PYATT, HENRIK SEDIN) 14:49
3RD PRD: VAN - (E
Jan 29 12:32 AM - NHL
SAN JOSE 1
VANCOUVER 3
3RD PRD: VAN - (EN) BRENDAN MORRISON 12 (MARKUS NASLUND) 19:50
Sharks vs. CanucksJan 29 12:31 AM - NHL
END OF THE 2ND 1ST 2ND 3RD TOTAL
--- --- --- -----
SAN JOSE 0 1 1
VANCOUVER 0 2 2 END OF THE 2ND
GOAL SCORING:
1ST PRD: NONE
2ND PRD: SAN - JOE PAVELSKI 10 (MILAN MICHALEK) 1:10
VAN - (PP) TAYLOR PYATT 14 (MARKUS NASLUND, KEVIN BIEKSA)
12:31
VAN - DANIEL SEDIN 18 (TAYLOR PYATT, HENRIK SEDIN) 14:49
SHOTS ON GOAL: 1S
Jan 28 11:40 PM - NHL
SAN JOSE 1
VANCOUVER 2
2ND PRD: VAN - DANIEL SEDIN 18 (TAYLOR PYATT, HENRIK SEDIN) 14:49
Sharks vs. CanucksJan 28 11:29 PM - NHL
SAN JOSE 1
VANCOUVER 1
2ND PRD: VAN - (PP) TAYLOR PYATT 14 (MARKUS NASLUND, KEVIN BIEKSA)
12:31
Sharks vs. CanucksJan 28 11:23 PM - NHL
SAN JOSE 1
VANCOUVER 0
2ND PRD: SAN - JOE PAVELSKI 10 (MILAN MICHALEK) 1:10
Sharks vs. CanucksJan 28 11:02 PM - NHL
END OF THE 1ST 1ST 2ND 3RD TOTAL
--- --- --- -----
SAN JOSE 0 0
VANCOUVER 0 0 END OF THE 1ST
GOAL SCORING:
1ST PRD: NONE
SHOTS ON GOAL: 1ST 2ND 3RD TOTAL
--- --- --- -----
SAN 11 11
VAN 9 9
GOALIES: SAN - EVGENI NABOKOV
VAN - ROBERTO LUONGO
Jan 28 10:42 PM
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