9
VANCOUVER — Suddenly, the stars are better aligned for the Vancouver Canucks in their desperate quest to reach the NHL postseason.
Vancouver won for the fourth time in six games last night to stay within two points of the Northwest Division-leading Minnesota Wild in the Western Conference.
Two goals by a slumping Henrik Sedin and another by Taylor Pyatt, who had gone 19 games without scoring, allowed the Canucks to subdue Phoenix 3-1.
The Canucks moved into a three-way tie for sixth place in the conference with the Calgary Flames and the Colorado Avalanche at 84 points.
Mason Raymond slides on his face along the boards after being checked by defenceman Keith Ballard. (Nick Didlick/Getty Images)
Related Articles
Internet Links
The Wild beat the Avs 3-1 last night. Minnesota plays in Vancouver on Thursday.
"We're trying to catch a couple of teams ahead of us, so it's a huge win," Sedin said. "We've had a lot of games on the road, so it's really nice to be back here."
Vancouver now faces a steady diet of Northwest opponents, playing the final nine games of its regular season against divisional rivals.
Before the game, Canucks defenceman Willie Mitchell seemed sure his squad would give a better effort than the last time they faced the Coyotes, a 2-0 loss in Arizona last week.
"It's a good opportunity for us," Mitchell said. "We have to fight our way into the playoffs."
And battle they did as the Canucks improved their St. Patrick's Day record to 12-5-1 since entering the league in the 1970-71 season.
The Canucks got the positive start they wanted with two goals in the opening period.
That margin was cut in half at 18 minutes 5 seconds of the first when Coyotes rookie Daniel Carcillo scored after a wild goalmouth scramble. The play began after Vancouver defender Kevin Bieksa fell, allowing a 3-on-1 rush at goalie Roberto Luongo.
Sedin opened scoring with a back-hand shot on a rebound at 8:55 after Coyotes netminder Ilya Bryzgalov had stopped Daniel Sedin's shot following a pass-out by his twin brother.
Going into last night, Henrik Sedin had scored just once in the previous 16 games.
Pyatt gave the Canucks a 2-0 advantage during a power play at 12:28. Pyatt used a back-hand shot, just like Sedin had, on another rebound after a point shot by Bieksa.
Carcillo, who went into the game with a league-high 263 minutes in penalties, was a concern for the Canucks. He drew a high-sticking minor 40 seconds into the game on Bieksa. Then, three seconds after the first goal, Carcillo got into a fight with Vancouver's Rick Rypien.
Carcillo made the most of his 2:11 of ice time in the first period, scoring his eighth goal of the campaign with a burst of speed to the outside before cutting sharply to the net to take the edge off Vancouver's start.
The unpredictable Carcillo was prominent again in the second period. He rang a shot off the near post midway through the period. The shot caromed behind Luongo and out the far side. On his next shift, Carcillo cost his team dearly.
Carcillo got into an after-the-whistle scrum with Vancouver defender Nathan McIver and was assessed a minor for roughing and a 10-minute misconduct. McIver was not penalized and the Canucks quickly capitalized.
Sedin finished the night's scoring on the power play at 13:37, when he batted brother Daniel's rebound home for a goal off the rush, a rare occurrence for the Sedins, who mostly played on separate lines except for power plays.
Vancouver held a 3-1 lead late in the second by successfully killing off offensive zone penalties to Alexandre Burrows and Pyatt.
Both teams made one lineup change prior to the game.
McIver was recalled from the Manitoba Moose of the AHL and put in the lineup to replace another rookie, Luc Bourdon. Phoenix used forward Joel Perrault in place of Enver Lisin.
Special to The Globe and Mail
