Final
Canucks catch Flames in Northwest
Apr 8, 2009 - 5:57 AM VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) -- The Calgary Flames came to Vancouver determined to clinch the Northwest Division title Tuesday night. Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo had other ideas.Luongo made 21 of his 46 saves in the first period, defenseman Mattias Ohlund scored twice, and the Canucks moved into a tie with Calgary atop the Northwest Division with a 4-1 victory. The Flames could have clinched the division with a win.
"We wanted to finish it off tonight," said Calgary coach Mike Keenan. "Luongo obviously thought differently. Luongo was the difference. We had a number of chances to get involved in the game offensively and he just stymied us. He was putting on a goaltending clinic tonight."
Flames captain Jarome Iginla tied the game 1-1 with 5:16 left in the second period, finally beating Luongo on the 33rd shot. But Ohlund restored the lead 22 seconds later with a shot off a Calgary defenseman -- his first goal in 26 games -- and added an insurance goal on the power play with 5:09 left.
"We'd rather take two points and play bad than the opposite, but we didn't play great," said Ohlund. "They totally outplayed us and Louie stole the game."
Rick Rypien opened the scoring late in the first period, and Henrik Sedin ended it with 2:32 left as the Canucks snapped a three-game skid to pull even with a Flames team they trailed by 13 points on January 31. Vancouver went 20-5-1 through February and March to pass Calgary, which was battling injuries, but fell behind again after going 0-2-1 in the first three games of April.
Miikka Kiprusoff made 21 saves for the Flames, who moved ahead of Vancouver with a win over Los Angeles on Monday. Calgary still controls its destiny because it has two more wins than the Canucks, the first tiebreaker in the standings. So Vancouver needs at least one more point than Calgary in the final two games of the season.
"If we play like that, we'll win a lot of games," said Iginla.
The Canucks host Los Angeles on Thursday before ending the season in Colorado on Saturday afternoon. The Flames finish with a home-and-home series against Edmonton on Friday and Saturday.
The timing of Calgary's final games could become significant because it fell to 2-10-2 in the second half of back-to-back games with the loss to Vancouver.
Then again, despite arriving early in the morning after a 4-1 home win over the Kings, it was the Flames who controlled things early, outshooting the Canucks, 17-3, through the first 10 minutes of the opening period. Luongo kept it scoreless with point-blanks stops on Mike Cammalleri and Todd Bertuzzi in the opening minute, and robbed Dion Phaneuf and Olli Jokinen on an early power play.
"Once I make those saves early I get in a comfort zone and they kept throwing pucks at the net from everywhere and for me personally that's the kind of game I like," said Luongo, who had given up 13 goals in the previous three games.
Luongo made several more highlight-reel stops, none bigger than on Iginla's blast from the slot as the Canucks killed off a 66-second 5-on-3 advantage for the Flames. He got a break when Cammalleri missed an open net on the rebound, and again when Jokinen hit the post and batted that rebound over a wide-open net on another power play midway through the period. Calgary was blanked on six power plays and is now 0-for-37 with the man advantage in the last eight games.
"Our power play needs to take a lot of blame and, also, Luongo was very good," said Iginla. "We threw a lot at him. They weren't just bad shots. We had a lot of good shots and, unfortunately, we didn't get more by him."
Kiprusoff wasn't nearly as busy, but was no less spectacular early on. He slid across to rob Willie Mitchell on a 2-on-1 redirection, and waited out Sedin to got his left toe on a shot from alone at the crease.
Rypien finally beat him off the rush with 2:39 left in the first period, firing a second chance over the shoulder of Kiprusoff. It was his first goal since scoring in the first two games of the season -- both against Calgary -- before missing 70 games due to sports hernia surgery and a personal leave of absence.
"It's been a long time," Rypien said. "Maybe just lucky it's all against Calgary."
Iginla, who shot wide on a third-period breakaway, finally solved Luongo after Jokinen's shot from the slot trickled to him at the side of the net with the goalie flat on his stomach. But Ohlund scored on the next shift.
- NHL
FINAL 1ST 2ND 3RD TOTAL
--- --- --- -----
CALGARY 0 1 0 1
VANCOUVER 1 1 2 4 FINAL
GOAL SCORING:
1ST PRD: VAN - RICK RYPIEN 3 (RYAN JOHNSON, ALEXANDER EDLER) 17:21
2ND PRD: CGY - JAROME IGINLA 35 (OLLI JOKINEN, MIKE CAMMALLERI) 14:44
VAN - MATTIAS OHLUND 5 (RYAN KESLER) 15:06
3RD PRD: VAN - (PP) MATTIAS OHLUND 6 (MATS SUN
Apr 8 12:40 AM - NHL
CALGARY 1
VANCOUVER 4
3RD PRD: VAN - HENRIK SEDIN 21 (DANIEL SEDIN, ALEXANDRE BURROWS) 17:28
Flames 1, Canucks 4 3rd - 2:32Apr 8 12:35 AM - NHL
CALGARY 1
VANCOUVER 3
3RD PRD: VAN - (PP) MATTIAS OHLUND 6 (MATS SUNDIN, ALEXANDER EDLER)
14:51
Flames 1, Canucks 3 3rd - 5:09Apr 8 12:34 AM - NHL
END OF THE 2ND 1ST 2ND 3RD TOTAL
--- --- --- -----
CALGARY 0 1 1
VANCOUVER 1 1 2 END OF THE 2ND
GOAL SCORING:
1ST PRD: VAN - RICK RYPIEN 3 (RYAN JOHNSON, ALEXANDER EDLER) 17:21
2ND PRD: CGY - JAROME IGINLA 35 (OLLI JOKINEN, MIKE CAMMALLERI) 14:44
VAN - MATTIAS OHLUND 5 (RYAN KESLER) 15:06
SHOTS ON GOAL: 1ST 2ND 3
Apr 7 11:38 PM - NHL
CALGARY 1
VANCOUVER 2
2ND PRD: VAN - MATTIAS OHLUND 5 (RYAN KESLER) 15:06
Flames 1, Canucks 2 2nd - 4:54Apr 7 11:33 PM - NHL
CALGARY 1
VANCOUVER 1
2ND PRD: CGY - JAROME IGINLA 35 (OLLI JOKINEN, MIKE CAMMALLERI) 14:44
Flames 1, Canucks 1 2nd - 5:16Apr 7 11:30 PM - ------------------------
Calgary
0 --0
Vancouver 1 --1
------------------------
Shots on goal:
-----------------------------
Calgary 21 --21
Vancouver 9 --9
-----------------------------
Goalies : Calgary, Miikka Kiprusoff (9 shots, 8 saves). Vancouver,
Roberto Luongo (21 shots, 21 saves). Referees: Kelly Sutherland,
Kevin Pollock. Linesmen: Mark Whele
Flames 0, Canucks 1 End of 1stApr 7 10:49 PM - CORRECTION
NHL CALGARY 0
VANCOUVER 2
1ST PRD: VAN - RICK RYPIEN 3 (RYAN JOHNSON, ALEXANDER EDLER) 17:21
Flames 0, Canucks 2 2nd - 2:39Apr 7 10:48 PM - NHL
CALGARY 0
VANCOUVER 1
2ND PRD: VAN - RICK RYPIEN 3 (RYAN JOHNSON, ALEXANDER EDLER) 17:21
Flames 0, Canucks 1 2nd - 2:39Apr 7 10:47 PM - NHL
END OF THE 1ST 1ST 2ND 3RD TOTAL
--- --- --- -----
CALGARY 0 0
VANCOUVER 0 0 END OF THE 1ST
GOAL SCORING:
1ST PRD: NONE
SHOTS ON GOAL: 1ST 2ND 3RD TOTAL
--- --- --- -----
CGY 21 21
VAN 9 9
GOALIES: CGY - MIIKKA KIPRUSOFF
VAN - ROBERTO LUONGO
Apr 7 10:46 PM
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