Flames 3 Canucks 2 (SO)
VANCOUVER — Jamie Lundmark scored in regulation and the shootout winner to give the Calgary Flames a 3-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night.
The Flames (26-14-5) moved into sole possession of first place in the Northwest Division, a point ahead of the Canucks (27-16-2), who saw their four-game win streak end.
Lundmark, called up from Abbotsford of the AHL on Friday, knottted the game 2-2 midway through the second while Rene Bourque added the other Calgary goal.
Mikael Samuelsson and Daniel Sedin scored for the Canucks. Alex Burrows, denied in his unlikely quest to become the first NHLer to record three straight hat tricks, recorded an assist.
Henrik Sedin extended his points streak to nine games as he assisted on his brother‘s goal.
The Flames outshot the Canucks 40-21 but was blanked on three power plays, while the Canucks went 0-for-2.
Vancouver’s defence featured a new look as Sami Salo and Aaron Rome sat out after suffering cut eyes Thursday against Phoenix.
Rookie rearguard Evan Oberg, 21, made his NHL debut after being called up Friday from Manitoba of the AHL. Meanwhile, Brad Lukowich, summoned from the Winnipeg-based farm club on Jan. 2, played his first game as a Canuck.
The newcomers and Vancouver goaltender Roberto Luongo were kept busy as the Flames, criticized by coach Brent Sutter after a home-ice loss to Columbus on Friday, dominated the early going and throughout the game peppered Luongo, who finished with 38 saves.
Bourque opened the scoring 9:36 into the game as he skated down left wing, cut towards the net and roofed a shot over Luongo’s shoulder from the short side.
The Canucks managed only two shots in the first 12 minutes, but Samuelsson createed a 1-1 tie at 14:09. Samuelsson, upset with being left off Sweden’s Olympic team, extended his points streak to six games. It was Samuelsson’s third goal in three games and fifth in six outings since Dec. 29 — the same day the Swedish Olympic team was named.
Prior to the snub, he had gone 14 games without a goal and was criticized for his lack of offence.
The Canucks took a 2-1 lead at 4:41 of the second as Daniel Sedin converted a highlight-reel play with his twin brother Henrik, the NHL’s scoring leader. Henrik Sedin raced in on a breakaway, cut in front of the net as goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff followed him, and then unexpectedly dished backhand to his brother, who was left with a wide open net.
It was only Vancouver’s sixth shot of the game.
Lundmark drew the Flames even just over five minutes later as his shot caromed off Vancouver defenceman Willie Mitchell’s shin pad and trickled through Luongo’s legs.
Vancouver went 10 and a half minutes without a shot in the third, but the Flames could not beat Luongo. Lundmark put a shot past him, but hit the post. In the first minute of overtime, Calgary‘s Daymond Langkow clanked a shot off the crossbar.
Notes: Canucks opted to bring up Oberg instead of veteran defenceman Mathieu Schneider, who walked out on the team in December. ...Burrows’ back-to-back hat tricks were the first in the NHL since Ilya Kovalchuk’s pair in 2007. Only two other Canucks, Petri Skriko in 1986 and Bobby Schmautz in 1972, have recorded two hat tricks in a row. ...Vancouver’s Rick Rypien and Calgary’s Brandon Prust fought twice. ...Calgary defenceman Jay Bouwmeester, the NHL’s ironman, played in his 387th straight game while Henrik Sedin, the runnerup, played in his 380th consecutive contest.