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Henrik Sedin helps Canucks down Flames in Northwest Division battle

Dec 15, 2006 - 6:00 AM VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Ticker) -- The Vancouver Canucks finally are learning that you need to score goals to win games.

Henrik Sedin snapped a tie late in the second period and Roberto Luongo stopped 21 shots as the Canucks skated to a 3-1 triumph over the Calgary Flames.

The Canucks have scored 15 goals in their last four games en route to a 3-1-0 record. Prior to the recent surge, they tallied just five times in six contests.

Vancouver entered Thursday ranked 28th in offense with a 2.23 goals-per-game average.

"I thought it was a very good game for us," Canucks coach Alain Vigneault said. "For me, tonight, when all was said and done, what I like about this game is the fact that our players didn't shy away from the challenge. They didn't shy away from the challenge, they took the challenge head on and they played one of our best games of the year."

"I don't think we kept it as simple on the road tonight as we have to keep it," said Calgary coach Jim Playfair, whose club played the first of six straight road games. "We turned a lot of pucks over and we gave up too many quality scoring chances."

With the game tied at 1-1, Sedin skated in on a 2-on-1 with twin brother Daniel and redirected a pass by goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff with 2:29 remaining in the middle session. The tally extended Henrik Sedin's points streak to four games.

Brendan Morrison added insurance 8 1/2 minutes into the third with his eighth goal of the season. On a pass from Matt Cooke, Morrison fired a one-timer from the slot past Kiprusoff.

"It was a great pass by Cooke, good read on the rush there," said Morrison, who has two goals and five assists in his last six games. "And a great job by (Markus) Naslund going to the net, he created a bit of a gap there. Cooke put it right in the wheelhouse and I was able to get enough wood on it."

Defenseman Mattias Ohlund also scored for the Canucks, who went 0-for-7 on the power play.

Matthew Lombardi scored the only goal and Kiprusoff made 24 saves for Calgary, which suffered its first regulation loss in seven games (5-1-1).

"We still need to be a little bit better and more consistent," Calgary captain Jarome Iginla said. "At home, we get a lot more consistent pressure, and right now it's just about learning from tonight. We weren't as sharp as we could've been in certain areas."

The Flames, who entered with the 22nd-ranked power play, continued to struggle, going 0-for-8 with the extra skater.

"It seems like on the power play, we had a lot of chances. But it seemed like one of those nights where the puck is bouncing maybe half a foot away, where maybe you could put the puck at the net," Calgary left wing Alex Tanguay said. "It's frustrating. It's a divisional game and they won, so we'll just have to regroup."

"They did an excellent job," Naslund said of his team's penalty-killers. "They really did, plus Luongo was part of it, too. He played outstanding."