St. Louis, MO - Sami Salo scored right before the buzzer in
overtime to give the Vancouver Canucks a 3-2 win over the St. Louis Blues at
Scottrade Center.
After Vancouver tied the game late in the third period, the teams skated into
overtime and each squad had a couple of good chances.
With less than seven seconds to play Brendan Morrison won a right circle
faceoff in the St. Louis zone and got the puck to Markus Naslund, who slid the
disc to Salo in the high slot. Salo wound up and cranked a shot over the right
shoulder of Curtis Sanford and into the net moments before the buzzer sounded
for the win.
'It was a nice feeling to get that win,' said Salo. 'We thought we had time
for one move and we did and I found the open hole.'
Taylor Pyatt and Naslund each scored a goal and Roberto Luongo made 17 saves
for the Canucks, who have won two of their last three games.
Petr Cjanek and Lee Stempniak each scored a goal and Keith Tkachuk had two
assists for the Blues, who have lost two straight. Sanford made 36 saves in
the loss.
'They tested me a lot,' said Sanford. 'Alot of point shots that got through
tonight, which is unusual. They throw alot of junk at the net and look to bang
away.'
The Blues had a 1-0 lead after the first 20 minutes thanks to a power-play
goal. With the puck deep in their zone the Canucks tried to clear it, but
Tkachuk held it in at the blue line. Tkachuk spotted Cjanek down low and
Cjanek gathered the puck and roofed it over Luongo's left shoulder less than
seven minutes in.
Sanford was good in the first period as he stopped both Vancouver power plays
and turned aside all nine shots he faced.
On a Vancouver power play, Sanford made a nice pad save on a Mattias Ohlund
shot and then stopped two rebound chances to preserve the 1-0 lead a little
over five minutes into the second.
Sanford was again called upon to keep the Canucks off the board on a power
play and stopped a big blast by Kevin Bieksa from the right point halfway
through the second.
Sanford stopped a total of 16 shots in the middle stanza and the Vancouver
power play went 0-for-5 in the frame.
St. Louis got an insurance goal in the third period when Bill Guerin snapped a
shot from the low left circle and Stempniak banged in the rebound for a power-
play tally 5:41 into the third.
Pyatt's power-play marker a little less than two minutes later cut the Canucks
deficit to 2-1.
A lack of discipline on St. Louis' part helped Vancouver tie the game. The
Blues had two men in the box and with Luongo pulled the Canucks were skating
6-on-3 and Naslund's shot from the high slot through traffic tied the game
with 26 seconds to play.
Game Notes
The Blues travel to Chicago for a game on Saturday.
Vancouver continues its
four-game road trip at Nashville on Saturday.
The Blues had won their
previous four games versus Vancouver.
Cjanek's goal was his first in 17
games.
St. Louis went 2-for-9 on the power play while Vancouver was
successful on two of its 11 power plays.
Vancouver's Henrik Sedin had two
assists and now has 10 on the season.
© 2006 The Sports Network
USA
Your Talkback on this Story