Canucks work overtime to defeat Sens
Canadian Press
11/27/2003
OTTAWA (CP) - The only time Markus Naslund saw his overtime winner against the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night was on videotape.
Naslund's goal at 4:13 of overtime lifted the Vancouver Canucks to a 3-2 win over Ottawa.
During a goal-mouth scramble the puck bounced off the Canucks left-winger and past Patrick Lalime with just 46.2 seconds to play in overtime. It came after the Senators rallied from a 2-0 deficit to force the extra session before a Corel Centre sellout crowd of 18,500.
``It was a lucky bounce, I didn't even see it,'' said Naslund after Vancouver (14-6-2-2) won for just the second time in its past five meetings against the Senators. ``I was just driving to the net.
``I've seen the replay and couldn't tell what it hit. It hit one of the skates.''
Ottawa (9-7-2-3) managed to hold red-hot Naslund's linemates, Todd Bertuzzi and Brendan Morrison, off the score sheet after they combined with the Canucks captain for 25 points in the five games leading up to Thursday's contest.
The Senators almost squeaked out a victory if not for a sprawling save by goaltender Dan Cloutier off of Zdeno Chara in overtime.
The Canucks won their second straight game and first in Ottawa since Feb. 19, 2000.
``Whenever you come into this building and you can get two points, you've obviously done something good,'' said Cloutier, who made 31 saves and picked up his 100th career NHL victory.
Mike Keane and Daniel Sedin also scored for the Canucks. Naslund also added an assist.
Peter Schaefer and Jason Spezza replied for the Senators, who once again fell behind early in a game and have just one win in their last four contests. Lalime stopped 24 shots.
``It was a great hockey game, both teams were skating well and it could have gone either way,'' said Lalime. ``We showed a lot of character coming back.
``We knew it was a big battle. It took a fluke goal to finish it off.''
Vancouver went 0-for-5 on the power play while Ottawa finished 0-for-3.
The teams opened the game up in an entertaining first period that featured end-to-end action, hitting and both sides and 11 shots apiece.
With less than four minutes to play in the first, the Senators extended their franchise-record streak of giving up the first goal in a game to 11 when Keane converted the rebound of Brent Sopel's shot from the high slot.
The puck appeared to go in off of Keane's skate as the veteran left-winger was being knocked to the ice during the scramble in front of Lalime. The play was reviewed and allowed to stand.
The tempo slowed considerably until the closing minutes of the second. Daniel Sedin scored off a nice cross-ice pass from his twin brother, Henrik, to make it 2-0 at 15:21.<
However, the Senators rallied with a two 51 seconds apart to tie the score after two periods.
Schaefer deflected Daniel Alfredsson's wrist shot from the point over the shoulder of Cloutier to cut Ottawa's lead to 2-1 at 18:24.
Then Vancouver's defensive pairing of Ed Jovanovski and Bryan Allen struggled with a puck in front of their own net, allowing Spezza to skate in and fire a shot under the crossbar at 19:15.
Ottawa had a great chance to win in overtime when Daniel Alfredsson came out from behind the Canucks' net and slid the puck across the crease to a wide-open Chara. However, Cloutier did the splits to come up with the save.
Shortly afterward, Naslund scored the winner.
``That was huge,'' said Canucks coach Marc Crawford. ``Alfredsson made just a super play coming out from behind the net and the only way you persevere there is to make that save and continue on.
``It was a great save by Dan.''
Notes: - Vancouver was missing centres Matt Cooke (shoulder) and Artem Chubarov (shoulder) and defenceman Jiri Slegr (healthy scratch) from its lineup. Defenceman Marek Malik missed part of the second and third after being cut on the nose by Martin Havlat's stick. No penalty was called on the play . . . The Canucks wrap up their road trip Saturday against the Calgary Flames . . . Right-winger Josh Langfeld and defencemen Curtis Leschyshyn and Shane Hnidy were all healthy scratches for Ottawa.
Cheers,
Aquaman
Canadian Press
11/27/2003
OTTAWA (CP) - The only time Markus Naslund saw his overtime winner against the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night was on videotape.
Naslund's goal at 4:13 of overtime lifted the Vancouver Canucks to a 3-2 win over Ottawa.
During a goal-mouth scramble the puck bounced off the Canucks left-winger and past Patrick Lalime with just 46.2 seconds to play in overtime. It came after the Senators rallied from a 2-0 deficit to force the extra session before a Corel Centre sellout crowd of 18,500.
``It was a lucky bounce, I didn't even see it,'' said Naslund after Vancouver (14-6-2-2) won for just the second time in its past five meetings against the Senators. ``I was just driving to the net.
``I've seen the replay and couldn't tell what it hit. It hit one of the skates.''
Ottawa (9-7-2-3) managed to hold red-hot Naslund's linemates, Todd Bertuzzi and Brendan Morrison, off the score sheet after they combined with the Canucks captain for 25 points in the five games leading up to Thursday's contest.
The Senators almost squeaked out a victory if not for a sprawling save by goaltender Dan Cloutier off of Zdeno Chara in overtime.
The Canucks won their second straight game and first in Ottawa since Feb. 19, 2000.
``Whenever you come into this building and you can get two points, you've obviously done something good,'' said Cloutier, who made 31 saves and picked up his 100th career NHL victory.
Mike Keane and Daniel Sedin also scored for the Canucks. Naslund also added an assist.
Peter Schaefer and Jason Spezza replied for the Senators, who once again fell behind early in a game and have just one win in their last four contests. Lalime stopped 24 shots.
``It was a great hockey game, both teams were skating well and it could have gone either way,'' said Lalime. ``We showed a lot of character coming back.
``We knew it was a big battle. It took a fluke goal to finish it off.''
Vancouver went 0-for-5 on the power play while Ottawa finished 0-for-3.
The teams opened the game up in an entertaining first period that featured end-to-end action, hitting and both sides and 11 shots apiece.
With less than four minutes to play in the first, the Senators extended their franchise-record streak of giving up the first goal in a game to 11 when Keane converted the rebound of Brent Sopel's shot from the high slot.
The puck appeared to go in off of Keane's skate as the veteran left-winger was being knocked to the ice during the scramble in front of Lalime. The play was reviewed and allowed to stand.
The tempo slowed considerably until the closing minutes of the second. Daniel Sedin scored off a nice cross-ice pass from his twin brother, Henrik, to make it 2-0 at 15:21.<
However, the Senators rallied with a two 51 seconds apart to tie the score after two periods.
Schaefer deflected Daniel Alfredsson's wrist shot from the point over the shoulder of Cloutier to cut Ottawa's lead to 2-1 at 18:24.
Then Vancouver's defensive pairing of Ed Jovanovski and Bryan Allen struggled with a puck in front of their own net, allowing Spezza to skate in and fire a shot under the crossbar at 19:15.
Ottawa had a great chance to win in overtime when Daniel Alfredsson came out from behind the Canucks' net and slid the puck across the crease to a wide-open Chara. However, Cloutier did the splits to come up with the save.
Shortly afterward, Naslund scored the winner.
``That was huge,'' said Canucks coach Marc Crawford. ``Alfredsson made just a super play coming out from behind the net and the only way you persevere there is to make that save and continue on.
``It was a great save by Dan.''
Notes: - Vancouver was missing centres Matt Cooke (shoulder) and Artem Chubarov (shoulder) and defenceman Jiri Slegr (healthy scratch) from its lineup. Defenceman Marek Malik missed part of the second and third after being cut on the nose by Martin Havlat's stick. No penalty was called on the play . . . The Canucks wrap up their road trip Saturday against the Calgary Flames . . . Right-winger Josh Langfeld and defencemen Curtis Leschyshyn and Shane Hnidy were all healthy scratches for Ottawa.
Cheers,
Aquaman