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Burrows nets 3, Luongo makes 31 saves for Canucks

Jan 8, 2010 - 7:49 AM VANCOUVER, British Columbia(AP) -- Alex Burrows pulled off a trick that hadn't been done by a Vancouver Canucks player in 23 years.

Make that two tricks.

Burrows scored three goals for his second straight hat trick, and Roberto Luongo made 31 saves for his 50th NHL shutout as the Canucks beat the Phoenix Coyotes 4-0 on Thursday night.

No Canucks player has scored three goals in consecutive games since Petri Skriko did it during the 1986-87 season.

"My linemates (Henrik and Daniel Sedin) found me a couple times there and made great plays. It makes my job a lot easier," Burrows said. "Right now I'm just getting shots through and they're finding ways to beat goalies. Obviously it's fun right now."

Henrik Sedin assisted on each goal by Burrows to move atop the NHL scoring race, three points ahead of San Jose's Joe Thornton.

"It's fun coming to the rink every day when you have linemates like this," Sedin said. "We like playing with each other. We feed off of Burrows. He's having a lot of fun, and that's what you need on a line."

Luongo, who has three shutouts this season, helped the Canucks through a tough second period. He praised his defensemen for clearing rebounds and giving him clear views of the shots he stopped.

He has a long way to go to catch Canadian Olympic teammate Martin Brodeur of the New Jersey Devils, who has an NHL-record 106 career regular-season shutouts.

"I've only got 50," Luongo said. "Once I get done, maybe we'll talk about it more."

Mikael Samuelsson also scored for the Canucks, who have won four in a row and 11 of 14. Vancouver moved into a tie with Calgary for first place in the Northwest Division.

Burrows opened the scoring 11:35 in when he put a shot from a sharp angle over goalie Ilya Bryzgalov, who made 20 saves.

"We're finding ways to find each other," Burrows said of his line. "I thought in the first period we had great chances around the net."

The Canucks' chances, except for Mason Raymond's failed penalty shot, were few in the second. Phoenix outshot Vancouver 15-6 in the period, but the close game was decided when Samuelsson put in Ryan Kesler's sharp-angled pass from behind the net with only 4 seconds left in the second.

"You can point the finger at me on that one," said Phoenix captain Shane Doan, who tried to pin Kesler against the end boards. "It's my fault, and it totally turns the tide. We kind of controlled the second period, but I dropped the ball on that one. As one of the guys on the team, one of the leaders, you can't do that. It's unacceptable.

"If I don't give up that second then it's a totally different game."

Vancouver defenseman Aaron Rome bled profusely after Phoenix's Taylor Pyatt blindsided him late in the first. Not seeing Pyatt, Rome took a pass behind the end line and was hit hard by the former Canucks forward. Rome got up, spun around in a daze, and then fell again before being helped off the ice.

Pyatt was not penalized. Rome didn't return to the game.

The Canucks lost another defenseman, oft-injured Sami Salo, in the second period when he was clipped in the face by a teammate's stick. Salo also started bleeding and came off the ice, leaving the Canucks with four defensemen. He returned at the start of the third.

Raymond was awarded a penalty shot with 2:05 left in the second after Vernon Fiddler tripped him on a breakaway. But Bryzgalov stuck out a leg to stop his deke attempt.

Vancouver managed to keep the lead despite being outshot in the second. The Coyotes were no match for the Canucks in the third as Burrows and the Sedins put on a passing and shooting show.

Burrows notched his second of the night at 1:01 on the third as he finished a three-way passing play with Daniel and Henrik Sedin.

Burrows ended another pretty passing play with the Sedins at 4:56 as fans littered the ice with hats.

Henrik Sedin extended his point streak to eight games.

NOTES: Vancouver forwards Steve Bernier and Kyle Wellwood, and Phoenix counterpart Petr Prucha all played in the 300th game of their NHL careers. ... Phoenix C Daniel Winnik returned to the lineup after missing five games (upper body). ... Samuelsson's goal was the 100th in the NHL.