• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Ohlund, Linden lift Canucks past Wild

Dec 17, 2006 - 7:25 AM VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Ticker) -- Defenseman Mattias Ohlund slowly is becoming an offensive force for the Vancouver Canucks.

Ohlund snapped a third-period tie and Trevor Linden scored just his second goal of the season for the Canucks, who edged the Minnesota Wild, 2-1, for their fourth win in five games.

In avenging a pair of losses to the Wild this season, the Canucks snapped a three-game losing streak against them in the opener of a home-and home series. Minnesota set a franchise record with its seventh straight road defeat.

"We're very happy with the win," Canucks coach Alain Vigneault said. "It's all about how (goaltender Roberto) Luongo played. He kept us in the first two periods and then we got some big power-play goals to get the win.

"I'm not going to apologize for it because it (has) happened a couple times this year where we've outplayed a team and still lost the game. We were outplayed and outchanced tonight and (Luongo) made the difference."

Ohlund scored for the third consecutive game to break a 1-1 tie. With the Canucks on a power play at 9:04 of the final session, the blue-liner fired a wrist shot from the slot that found its way past goaltender Niklas Backstrom into the top left corner of the net.

Vancouver opened the scoring while on the man advantage with 4:30 to play in the first period. Linden knocked in Daniel Sedin's cross-crease feed from the doorstep for his first tally since the season opener at Detroit on October 5.

"It feels nice to score," Linden said. "It (has) been a while. I couldn't have asked for a better setup from Henrik and Daniel (Sedin). They work the puck really well over there and it was an open net."

"The power play has been really good lately," Daniel Sedin said. "The last five or six games, it has been clicking. It's a big part of the game now, so it has to be good."

Pavol Demitra tied the contest at 2:29 of the middle session, when his slap shot from the right point fluttered and dipped in front of Luongo before squeezing inside the right goalpost.

"It was a little bit of a knuckler," Luongo said. "I had it and it kind of dropped on me at the last second. Unfortunately, those are not the kind of goals you want to give up, but it happens sometimes.

"The most important thing is how you bounce back after that. Then I shut the door with a couple big saves and then we came back and had a good third period."

Making his 10th consecutive start, Luongo recorded his third straight victory after making 28 saves and shutting down the Wild on six power-play chances.

"We didn't come out very well in the first period, but we played really well in the third period," Luongo said. "We got a lot of shots on goal and scored a big power-play goal. We'll take this win knowing that we've got to play a little better if we want to beat them next time."

Pascal Dupuis thought he gave the Wild a 2-1 edge in the second period when his shot from the slot hit Luongo in the mask as he fell into the net. However, video replay could not confirm whether Luongo's head was over the goal line when contact with the puck was made.

"I still think it was in and we all do," Dupuis said. "I saw behind the line. He was lying back there. It hit his facemask and it laid on him. I didn't see the overhead shot, but I'll check on it. Obviously I was disappointed (it didn't count)."

"After seeing it, you can clearly see it was off his mask and he was behind the goal line," Wild left wing Brian Rolston said. "It's one of those things. If you can't see it conclusively, then I guess it's no goal."

Backstrom stopped 16 shots for Minnesota, which slipped to 4-11-1 on the road.

"The few past months, we've played well, but we don't get what we deserve," Backstrom said. "It's unlucky. We have to keep playing the same way and hopefully we will get the breaks in the future and turn this ship around."