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Daniel Sedin, Luongo propel Canucks past Blues

Jan 24, 2008 - 7:09 AM VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Ticker) -- Daniel Sedin scored in the fourth round of the shootout and All-Star goaltender Roberto Luongo stopped all four shooters as the Vancouver Canucks defeated the St. Louis Blues, 3-2, on Wednesday.

Defenseman Mattias Ohlund had two power-play goals in regulation for the Canucks, who snapped a four-game losing streak heading into the All-Star break.

"It was a huge win for us," Ohlund said. "We played pretty good the previous two games, but usually pretty good is not good enough. It was a nice win for us, we needed a win. Everybody knows how tight it is in the standings."

Fourth-liner D.J. King and Brad Boyes each had a goal for the Blues, who dropped their sixth in a row.

"Don't talk about the six in a row," Blues coach Andy Murray said. "We just worked our tails off. Don't give me that question.

"You don't insult guys that have worked their tails off. We're not concerned with five or six in a row, we're concerned about playing hard every night and doing what we can do get wins."

In the fourth round of the bonus format, Sedin faked All-Star Manny Legace to his left before reaching back and tucking the puck past the out-of-position netminder.

"Well, I was going to go upstairs pull the puck, and then go upstairs," Sedin said. "But I kind of lost the puck, and so I had to wait him out. It was nice to see it go in."

"It was a good move, but they shouldn't allow that stop move," Legace said. "It is borderline cheating, but they allowed it. If you lose forward motion, it should be no goal. At the Olympics, if you lose forward motion, it's no goal."

Luongo, who was voted to the midseason gala but declined the invitation to stay at home with his pregnant wife, stopped Boyes, Paul Kariya, 19-year-old rookie David Perron and Keith Tkachuk in the shootout. Luongo finished with 26 saves.

"It's been a rough week, and we definitely don't want to end on a losing note heading into the break," Luongo said. "I started feeling comfortable in the third period there. I made a couple of big saves and we got a big goal in the third to tie it up, and we were able to preserve it."

King opened the scoring with just over eight minutes remaining in the first period, backhanding a sharp-angle shot which fooled Luongo for his second goal of the season.

"I was just supporting my linemates and (Dan Hinote) made a nice chip ahead," King said. "He gave me some open ice there and, like you said, just throwing the puck on net and hoping for a rebound for my linemates because I know they're going to be driving to the net the whole time. It just went through the five-hole on him."

Ohlund leveled the contest with 99 seconds remaining in the first period.

With Vancouver on the power play, the blue-liner skated in from the left point, accepted a feed from All-Star Henrik Sedin and beat Legace for his seventh goal of the season.

Boyes regained the lead for St. Louis just 76 seconds into the second period.

With St. Louis on the power play, Kariya's centering feed found Boyes, who fired a low wrister which beat Luongo for his team-leading 28th goal of the season.

Ohlund evened the contest again, this time with a power-play goal just 1:46 into the third period.

Henrik Sedin fired a cross-ice pass to Ohlund, who wristed the puck past an out-of-position Legace for his eighth goal of the season.

"I don't know how it went in, but it was a nice play by Henrik," Ohlund said. "I was just trying to get it at the net and maybe create a rebound or something."

The Blues appeared to take the lead late in the third period, but Tkachuk's apparent goal was waived off by the on-ice officials.

"It's just one of those things, there's nothing you can do," Tkachuk said. "I got tripped by (defenseman Aaron) Miller after I beat him and get a shot off. I just don't think the goalie had possession for it to be a quick whistle. That's two games in a row that something like that has happened. Unfortunately we didn't get the call."

"It's clear when you watch the replay that Luongo never has the puck," Murray said. "It's going right through him. In our opinion, it should have counted."