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Lundmark lifts Flames past Canucks

Jan 10, 2010 - 7:44 AM VANCOUVER, British Columbia(AP) -- Calgary Flames forward Jamie Lundmark had a couple of unique scouting advantages on Vancouver Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo.

For starters, Lundmark has spent most of the season with the Flames' American Hockey League affiliate in nearby Abbotsford, where he is inundated with coverage of the Canucks.

Add in insight from new Calgary goalie coach Jamie McLennan, who backed up and befriended Luongo with the Florida Panthers, and Lundmark knew exactly what he wanted to do.

After tying it midway through the second period, Lundmark scored the winning shootout goal by skating in slowly on Luongo before lifting a backhander over his blocker to give the Flames a 3-2 victory over the Canucks on Saturday night.

"Being in Abbotsford, the Canucks games are on all the time so you pick a little up and do a little bit of scouting," said Lundmark, who was called up Friday. "Our goalie coach does some scouting for us here, too, so I talked to him before the game and asked him to do on shootouts. So I had a plan going in, and it worked."

Nigel Dawes and Olli Jokinen also scored in the shootout for the Flames, but so did Vancouver's Kyle Wellwood and Mason Raymond. That set the stage for Lundmark to win it.

"I was going a little slower than I wanted but I wanted to just fake shot, make a move and go backhand and it worked," said Lundmark, who banged a bouncing puck in off a defender's leg to tie the game.

Rene Bourque also scored in regulation to help the Flames move into first place in the Northwest Division, one point ahead of Vancouver and Colorado.

Miikka Kiprusoff stopped 19 shots in regulation and overtime, and made the only save of the shootout by turning away Ryan Kesler's low shot as the Flames snapped a two-game losing skid. According to Calgary coach Brent Sutter, Kiprusoff was being distracted by a laser pointer throughout the game.

"We could see it shining on his mask the whole night," Sutter said. "It was brought to the attention of the refs and security, and it's hard to believe that can go on for 60 minutes in a hockey game and it's not located."

Daniel Sedin and Mikael Samuelsson scored in regulation for the Canucks, who lost for just the second time in nine games (7-0-2). Roberto Luongo made 38 saves before being beaten on all three shots in the shootout.

"We're disappointed with the loss obviously, but we found a way to get it to overtime," Luongo said. "So the game was right there for us.

The Flames were coming off a 3-2 home-ice loss to Columbus on Friday night that left Sutter seething, and playing their fourth game in five nights. But with the Northwest Division lead on the line, Calgary outshot Vancouver 14-5 in the first period, 26-11 through 40 minutes, and 40-21 overall.

"It was important to get our game back to where we like after not playing up to our standards," Sutter said. "We played with an energy level I like to see."

The Canucks, already missing top-four defenseman Kevin Bieksa, lost blue-liners Sami Salo and Aaron Rome on Thursday night during a 4-0 win over Phoenix. That forced them to dress rookie Evan Oberg for his first NHL game and veteran Brad Lukowich for his first game with Vancouver after spending the entire season in the AHL.

Calgary took advantage of the defensive shake-up with several early odd-man chances. Bourque, who was robbed by Luongo on an early power play, beat him high on a partial breakaway to open the scoring midway through the first period.

But the Flames couldn't extend the lead. Olli Jokinen hit the post, and Jarome Iginla was stopped on a 2-on-1 before Samuelsson tied with 5:51 left in the first. Mason Raymond, who hit the post on an early 2-on-1, had his wraparound go off a defenseman's skate right to Samuelsson in the slot for an easy goal.

Daniel Sedin put the Canucks ahead after a pretty pass from twin brother Henrik 4:41 into the second period.

Lundmark tied it 5 minutes later.

"It's good to contribute anytime I'm up," Lundmark said.

NOTES: Henrik Sedin's assist extended his point streak to nine games (5 goals, 13 assists) and increased his NHL-best total to 62. Samuelsson has a seven-game points streak (5 goals, 7 points) since reacting angrily to being left off the Swedish Olympic team. ... Canucks forward Alex Burrows failed in his bid to become the first NHL player to score three goals in three straight games, but extended his point streak to five games with an assist. ... Salo, whose eye was swollen shut after getting clipped by a teammate's stick, isn't expected to be out long.