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Canucks blank Avs; Daniel Sedin nets hat trick

Dec 7, 2011 - 6:45 AM Vancouver, BC (Sports Network) - Daniel Sedin recorded his fifth career hat trick as the Vancouver Canucks pounded the Colorado Avalanche, 6-0, at Rogers Arena.

Jannik Hansen added a pair of goals, Alexander Edler finished with a goal and an assist and Henrik Sedin added three helpers for the defending Western Conference champs, who have won seven of their last eight contests.

Roberto Luongo started and stopped 13 shots before exiting in the second period after taking a slap shot from Avs forward Matt Duchene in the throat area. Cory Schneider entered the game in relief and stopped 20 shots to preserve the shutout.

"He [Luongo] was great in the first period," Schneider said. "He was rock solid in there. He kept us in the game and let us hang around. It was scary to see him go down, because some times they [shots] rise on you and catch you in a bad spot, but luckily he was ok and we were able to close it out."

Semyon Varlamov was shelled, yielding all six goals on 21 shots for before giving way to Jean-Sebastien Giguere in the third period. Colorado had its three-game winning streak halted.

Vancouver opened the scoring at 3:19 of the first period when Alex Burrows fired a shot from the slot that went wide, but Daniel Sedin was there to collect the puck off the back boards and stuff it home on the wrap-around to give his team a 1-0 lead.

The Canucks extended their lead to 2-0 at 6:53 of the second stanza when Hansen faked a shot from the point, weaved around a defender and moved to the high slot before dishing it off to Kevin Bieksa at the right circle. After the pass, Hansen went to the net and got it back from Bieksa before chipping it home from in front.

Vancouver then put the game away with four goals in the final period of play.

Skating 4-on-4, the first goal of the period came at the 5:15 mark when Daniel Sedin got a nifty backhand pass from Henrik Sedin on the right wing, weaved his way to the slot and fired it past a stickless Varlamov for a 3-0 advantage.

Hansen's second goal of the game came just 34 seconds later when Edler accepted a pass at the left point, drifted down the boards and found a cutting Hansen, who wristed it past the Russian goalie for a 4-0 lead.

Sedin's hat-trick goal came at 7:08 of the final period when he got a pass from Burrows on the left wing and popped it home from in front. Edler capped the scoring at 9:40 with a power-play tally, firing it home from the slot off the rush.

"We weren't able to capitalize on our chances early in the game," Avalanche head coach Joe Sacco said. "We let them hang around and we didn't capitalize on a 5-on-3 and when you let good teams like this hang around like that, they'll make some plays."

Game Notes

Tuesday's game marked the beginning of a three-game trek through Western Canada for Colorado. The Avalanche will stop in Calgary to face the Flames on Thursday and the Oilers in Edmonton on Friday...Avalanche forward Kevin Porter was given a five-minute major and a game misconduct for kneeing Canucks' forward David Booth...Colorado failed to convert on five power play chances, while Vancouver finished 1-for-5 with the man advantage...Following Tuesday's game, the Canucks embark on a five-game road trip, beginning Thursday in Montreal.