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Luongo keeps Canucks rolling at home

Jan 4, 2008 - 7:13 AM VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Ticker) -- Home, sweet home.

Roberto Luongo made 28 saves en route to his sixth shutout of the season to lead the Vancouver Canucks to their fifth straight win at General Motors Place on Thursday night, a 3-0 victory over the New York Rangers.

Ryan Kesler, Daniel Sedin and Jason Jaffray scored for the Canucks, who are 11-0-2 in their last 13 contests at home and have not lost in regulation at GM Place since November 1.

"(The Rangers) had a few chances, but the guys played pretty well," Luongo said. "The guys were playing great in front of me, especially great at home in front of our fans. We just have the confidence at home and things are going our way."

Luongo has been a major factor in the club's recent success at home, starting all 13 games during the surge. Over that stretch, the 28-year-old netminder has allowed just 11 goals and posted six shutouts.

He turned aside nine shots in the first period, 12 in the second and seven in the third to record his 38th career blanking.

"I think it wasn't the prettiest first two periods, that's for sure," Luongo said. "But we came out in the third, we played pretty good hockey. We were back to our style and we had some big goals."

The Rangers had numerous opportunities to get on the scoresheet but failed to get one past last season's Vezina Trophy runner-up.

Breaking in on a 2-on-1 rush, Chris Drury was denied just under eight minutes into the contest and Martin Straka was stymied on his shorthanded breakaway later in the opening session.

"He's too good. Anything he sees, he's going to stop," Drury said of Luongo. "Everyone in the world knows that. We just didn't get enough guys in his face."

Luongo caught a break in the second period as Blair Betts had a scoring opportunity while a man down when he outhustled Canucks defenseman Lukas Krajicek to a loose puck in the offensive zone and managed to elude Luongo, who had charged out of his crease in an attempt to knock away the puck.

Betts, however, was not able to deposit the puck into the vacant net as his backhand attempt went wide.

"We got exactly as advertised from him," Rangers coach Tom Renney of the Canucks' netminder. "Everybody on our team, everybody in this league, knows all about Roberto. The one thing you've got to do is keep pressing, going hard to the net, getting your shots there, get to the blue paint. We probably could have done a little bit more of that.

"Quite honestly, I thought he saw a lot of the shots, so it's those second and third efforts that get you goals on a guy like this, and I'm not sure we were in a position to do that."

Despite yielding just nine shots over the first two periods, the Rangers faced a 1-0 deficit entering the final session as Kesler notched his career-high 10th goal of the season early in the second.

After Byron Ritchie fanned on a backhand attempt from the right faceoff circle, Kesler fired a shot from along the end line to the left of Stephen Valiquette and somehow managed to squeeze it between the goalpost and the pad of the Rangers' goaltender.

"I just kind of threw it on net and it went in," Kesler said. "(Ritchie) just passed the puck and I was lucky enough to get it away."

"I felt comfortable all night," Valiquette said despite giving up the soft goal. "Even though that goal went in, my attitude was, 'So what?' really. I didn't really care that much. That game was a strong game for all of us. I don't think it was a game we can really hang our heads about."

It was all the offense Luongo needed, as he made several more fine saves in the final period to secure the victory.

Both Jaromir Jagr and Straka had an opportunity to score midway through the session, but both failed get their rebound shots past Luongo during a scramble in front of the net.

Less than a minute later, Luongo made his best save of the night to preserve the one-goal advantage. After blocking Marcel Hossa's quick wrist shot from in front, Luongo made a diving stop on Brandon Dubinsky's backhand attempt off the rebound.

"He was real good, real good," Canucks coach Alain Vigneault said of Luongo. "I think the fair assessment is that we didn't play our best hockey. (Luongo) kept us in and we found a way to bring in our points. There's not much more to say about this game."

Vancouver put away the game with a pair of tallies 34 seconds apart late in the third. Sedin unleashed a point-blank shot from the slot after coming down on a 2-on-1 break with 3:04 remaining in the contest to make it 2-0. It was Sedin's team-leading 19th goal of the campaign.

The Canucks then went on the power play, and Jaffray wasted little time giving them a 3-0 advantage with his second career goal. Jaffray deflected defenseman Willie Mitchell's shot from the high slot past Valiquette with 2 1/2 minutes left.

Valiquette stopped 16 shots for New York, which has lost its first two games during its current road trip through Western Canada.

Brendan Shanahan was scratched after suffering from a neck strain, although the veteran is not expected to miss any further time.

"We've got a lot of hockey to play and we need him in our lineup at 100 percent," Renney said. "It was a bit of a calculated risk, but I'm happy that I did it because he'll be healthy for us in Edmonton (on Saturday) and he'll be able to, I'm sure, play the balance of the season because we were prudent with him."