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Burrows, Luongo give Canucks emotional triumph

Oct 10, 2008 - 6:52 AM VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Ticker) -- Alex Burrows did his best to honor his friend.

Burrows scored twice and captain Roberto Luongo stopped all 25 shots he faced as the Vancouver Canucks notched a 6-0 triumph over the Calgary Flames on Thursday in the season opener for both teams.

Henrik Sedin and defenseman Mattias Ohlund each notched a goal and an assist and Steve Bernier and Rick Rypien also scored for Vancouver, which honored the memory of former defenseman Luc Bourdon prior to the game. Bourdon was killed in a motorcycle accident in Lameque, New Brunswick on May 29 at the age of 21.

Daniel Sedin collected three assists and Ryan Kesler set up a pair of goals for the Canucks, who improved to 21-14-3 in season-opening contests.

"It's a special night for everyone in this locker room. Luc was one of my best friends last year on the team, but a lot of teammates here were really tight with him, too," Burrows said. "I think everybody showed up and played a good game. It was an emotional night for us, but I think once we got going and got our legs going and played a good game, I think we responded pretty well."

"It was not easy, that's for sure," Luongo said. "Especially seeing Luc's family there, that was probably the toughest thing. Seeing him wear the Canucks jersey in the video, that's really hard. I had to fight back tears watching those things. You try to take that emotion and carry it over to the game and change it into positive energy."

Former Canuck Todd Bertuzzi was jeered every time he touched the puck and Miikka Kiprusoff stopped 17 shots for Calgary, which has lost its last six season openers. The skid is only one shy of the all-time mark set by the Minnesota North Stars (1972-78) and matched by the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (1993-99).

Luongo stopped nine shots in the first period, 10 in the second and six in the third to record his 39th career shutout and 12th with Vancouver.

The Quebec native played a pivotal role in keeping the Flames off the scoreboard, denying several point-blank chances while Calgary enjoyed a 5-on-3 advantage for 62 seconds in the first period.

"You have a 5-on-3 for a minute and you want to get it, and unfortunately, we didn't," Flames captain Jarome Iginla said. "We had some chances. They kept us there, but there is a lot of game left after that, and that definitely took some momentum."

"Well, we had some great opportunities on the 5-on-3 and there is always the debate in my mind (that) perhaps it would have been better first to call a timeout and leave Iginla out there. That's one aspect," Calgary coach Mike Keenan said. "On the other side, that means no one else could get the job done. It turns out that even with the 5-on-3, we couldn't get the job done."

Just over five minutes later, Henrik Sedin opened the scoring - thanks to an alert play by his brother.

Daniel Sedin raced in on Kiprusoff but had the puck slide off his stick. The Swede quickly gained control behind the net and fed his twin after he skated into the offensive zone.

Henrik Sedin quickly unleashed a shot that sailed past the Finnish netminder and just under the crossbar to give the Canucks a 1-0 advantage with 3:25 remaining in the first period.

"(Luongo) played great the first half of the first period," Henrik Sedin said. "They had a lot of chances, but we were able to score the first goal. That was a huge thing for us."

After splitting last season with the San Jose Sharks and Buffalo Sabres, Bernier certainly made his first game with Vancouver a memorable one. Bernier doubled the advantage just 23 seconds into the middle period, accepting a centering feed from Henrik Sedin and wristing a shot past Kiprusoff.

Burrows gave the Canucks a three-goal bulge just 94 seconds later. After using his considerable speed to skate through the neutral zone, Kesler alertly fed Burrows, who quickly slipped the puck by Kiprusoff.

Burrows gave the Canucks a 4-0 lead just 2:48 into the third period after Ryan Johnson took advantage of a defensive breakdown by the Flames and corralled the puck just inside the blue line. Johnson quickly dished to Burrows, who unleashed a slap shot that beat Kiprusoff for his second goal of the game.

Ohlund netted a power-play goal 10:27 into the third session and Rypien added a shorthander just over four minutes later to cap the scoring.

Vancouver coach Alain Vigneault was impressed with his team's resolve in the face of a difficult game.

"The last couple of days have been really emotional on a number of levels, not just because of opening night but because of the special tribute to Luc," he said. "I thought our guys handled it really well, not because of the outcome, but we were ready and prepared and focused. I'm really proud of how they handled themselves on a very challenging day.

"Very happy with the fans' reaction to Luc's tribute and the video. The first time we showed it to the whole company, at the end of the video, there wasn't a sound in the place. I was happy that the people understood that what we were looking for was to acknowledge Luc's life and make that a special day for his mother and his girlfriend and his family over there."

The teams meet again in Calgary on Saturday.

"We'll have to be better next game if we want to get those two points," Kiprusoff said.