Character Win
CALGARY (CP) - Crippled by an injury-riddled defence and a jet-lagged offence, the Vancouver Canucks showed their resilience Tuesday night.
Markus Naslund and Anson Carter scored second-period goals nine seconds apart to lead the Canucks to a 2-1 win over Calgary, moving Vancouver into a tie with the Flames atop the Northwest Division.
Calgary led 1-0 and seemed to be controlling the play when the complexion of the contest quickly changed.
At 18:20, Steve McCarthy's pass to Brendan Morrison at the Flames blue-line caught Calgary on a line change. Morrison then chipped the puck to Naslund, who broke in alone and fired a high shot past Miikka Kiprusoff.
''Auld (Vancouver goalie Alex Auld) was yelling at me to throw the puck up and I just turned my head before I got it and passed it up to Mo,'' said McCarthy. ''I've certainly been on the other end when you're tired and you're trying to get off the ice.
''It was a great play by Alex to communicate.''
Just nine seconds later, Bryan Allen and Olympic goal medallist Daniel Sedin combined to spring Anton Carter for his 22nd of the year. Carter beat Kiprusoff with a shot from the top of the faceoff circle.
That's all the offence Vancouver needed as Auld stopped 30 shots to improve to 26-16-3.
Vancouver's defence was minus four regulars with Olympic casualties Sami Salo (shoulder) and Mattias Ohlund (ribs) joining Ed Jovanovski (groin) and Nolan Baumgartner (ankle) on the sidelines.
Uh-oh, what's that ? A character win for the Nucks?
Look out. Naslund looked like he was back.
CALGARY (CP) - Crippled by an injury-riddled defence and a jet-lagged offence, the Vancouver Canucks showed their resilience Tuesday night.
Markus Naslund and Anson Carter scored second-period goals nine seconds apart to lead the Canucks to a 2-1 win over Calgary, moving Vancouver into a tie with the Flames atop the Northwest Division.
Calgary led 1-0 and seemed to be controlling the play when the complexion of the contest quickly changed.
At 18:20, Steve McCarthy's pass to Brendan Morrison at the Flames blue-line caught Calgary on a line change. Morrison then chipped the puck to Naslund, who broke in alone and fired a high shot past Miikka Kiprusoff.
''Auld (Vancouver goalie Alex Auld) was yelling at me to throw the puck up and I just turned my head before I got it and passed it up to Mo,'' said McCarthy. ''I've certainly been on the other end when you're tired and you're trying to get off the ice.
''It was a great play by Alex to communicate.''
Just nine seconds later, Bryan Allen and Olympic goal medallist Daniel Sedin combined to spring Anton Carter for his 22nd of the year. Carter beat Kiprusoff with a shot from the top of the faceoff circle.
That's all the offence Vancouver needed as Auld stopped 30 shots to improve to 26-16-3.
Vancouver's defence was minus four regulars with Olympic casualties Sami Salo (shoulder) and Mattias Ohlund (ribs) joining Ed Jovanovski (groin) and Nolan Baumgartner (ankle) on the sidelines.
Uh-oh, what's that ? A character win for the Nucks?
Look out. Naslund looked like he was back.
Comment