Canucks 4 - 1 Senators
Final
  for this game

Surging Canucks continue road trip in Ottawa

Dec 10, 2011 - 4:22 PM (Sports Network) - The surging Vancouver Canucks will shoot for a fourth consecutive victory when they visit the Ottawa Senators for tonight's battle at Scotiabank Place.

The Canucks earned their third straight win Thursday in Montreal and the defending Western Conference champions have also posted victories in eight of their last nine trips to the ice.

Vancouver has scored four or more goals in five straight games and is coming off a 4-3 shootout win over the Habs. Cody Hodgson netted the only shootout goal to help the Canucks kick off their five-game road trip on a positive note.

Hodgson, Mason Raymond and Sami Salo scored in regulation for Vancouver, while Montreal native Roberto Luongo made 20 saves for the win.

"It's always exciting to win in a shootout," Luongo said. "They're awful when you don't win but when you do they're fun."

The Canucks won the game despite playing without forwards David Booth or Chris Higgins. Booth will be out 4-to-6 weeks with a sprained MCL suffered Tuesday against Colorado, while Higgins is expected to miss his third straight game with a staph infection in his foot.

Vancouver has won four straight games on the road and is 9-6-0 as the visiting club this season. The Canucks have also won four straight and eight of their last nine games against Ottawa and Vancouver has four victories in its last five trips to Canada's capital city.

The Senators have not fared well in December, winning just one of five games (1-2-2) this month. Ottawa has lost its last two games, but was able to earn a point in Thursday's shootout loss to New Jersey.

Ottawa led the Devils by a 3-0 count in the second period, but New Jersey rallied for the home win. Adam Henrique scored in the fourth round of the shootout to give the Devils a 5-4 victory.

Daniel Alfredsson had a goal and an assist and Milan Michalek, Jesse Winchester and Nick Foligno each had a goal for the Senators. Alex Auld stopped 27 shots in the loss.

"They pressure so well and we just weren't as sharp as we needed to be," said Foligno. "We're going to regroup and come back out here on Saturday. We know we're a better team than the result of tonight's game."

The Sens lost defenseman Sergei Gonchar to an upper body injury on Thursday and the veteran is questionable for tonight's test. Gonchar has two goals and 17 assists in 28 games this season.

Beginning with tonight's tilt, Ottawa is scheduled to play five of its next six games on home ice. The Senators are 7-5-1 as the host this season.






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