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Canucks top Red Wings to regain Northwest Division lead

Mar 18, 2007 - 4:43 AM VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Ticker) -- When it comes to scoring goals for the Vancouver Canucks, defenseman Lukas Krajicek's name usually does not come to mind.

Krajicek snapped a second-period tie and Daniel Sedin registered a pair of assists as the Canucks won for the seventh time in nine contests with a 4-1 triumph over the Detroit Red Wings.

In raising its mark to 17-2-3 in its last 22 home contests, Vancouver (43-23-6) surpassed last season's victory total and moved one point in front of the Minnesota Wild (42-24-7) in the Northwest Division race.

Krajicek netted his first goal in 24 games dating to January 16 at Montreal and third of the season midway through the second period, when he lifted the puck under the crossbar from the slot past netminder Dominik Hasek for a 2-1 lead.

Brendan Morrison added an insurance tally roughly six minutes later when he beat Hasek to the stick side for a shorthanded goal, his 19th of the campaign.

Bryan Smolinski netted his 16th goal in the first period, Trevor Linden recorded an empty-net tally and goaltender Roberto Luongo made 32 saves for Vancouver.

Pavel Datsyuk opened the scoring with his 22nd goal and Hasek stopped 35 shots for the Red Wings (45-18-9), who are one point behind the Nashville Predators (47-20-6) in the race for the Presidents Trophy.