VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Mike Sillinger scored twice and Pavel Bure, Martin Gelinas and Gino Odjick each added a goal and an assist as the Vancouver Canucks routed the Toronto Maple Leafs 7-3 Saturday night.
David Roberts picked up a pair of assists for Vancouver, which has posted consecutive wins for the first time since late November. The Canucks won for just the second time in six games.
Mats Sundin scored his 25th and 26th goals for the Maple Leafs, who have lost back-to-back games after winning three in a row.
Mike Craig, who amassed 31 penalty minutes in the game, scored his seventh goal of the season 82 seconds into the second period to give Toronto a 3-2 lead. But Sillinger scored on the power play a little more than two minutes later to tie it. He took a pass from Jyrki Lumme, skated in on a partial breakaway and put a backhander through goaltender Felix Potvin's pads for the first of four straight second-period goals by Vancouver.
Gelinas broke the deadlock and put the Canucks ahead to stay with his ninth goal at 9:16. Roberts banked the puck off the left boards to Odjick, who threw it to the net. Gelinas skated in and banged the puck past a defender and a fallen Potvin.
The Canucks took advantage of a five-minute power play with goals by Lonny Bohonos and Odjick, giving them a 5-2 lead going into the third. Craig was serving the penalty for viciously cross-checking Sillinger in the face. Sillinger left the game but returned despite a broken nose.
"It's difficult with a team like Vancouver who have such explosive players like Bure and (Alexander) Mogilny," Toronto head coach Mike Murphy said. "It's tough to kill five minutes off. We did a reasonably good job for most of the way then we got unlucky. There was a point shot that hit a skate and Bohonos fired it into the empty net. Frustration set in at that point and we got a bad bounce off the boards it jumped out front and Odjick put it in. That was probably the turning point."
Esa Tikkanen, who picked up an assist, agreed.
"I think that was key," he sad. "Our first line unit was stopped with no shots then our second unit came on and got a big goal then the third scored also. The special teams were great in our win today."
After Sundin scored the second of his two unassisted goals with 6:22 remaining, Sillinger and Mike Ridley tallied to give the Canucks their most lopsided victory since beating St. Louis 8-0 Dec. 15. Ridley's goal was his 50th point as a Canuck.
"It was a two-on-one with Gelinas," Sillinger said of his second goal. "Dave Roberts made a good play on the boards to get it out and Martin slid it under the defender's stick and I took it on the right side and shot it right away. It went off both posts and their defenseman (David) Cooper knocked it in the net for me so it was kind of nice."
McLean made 19 saves to improve to 7-6 for Vancouver, which was three for five on the power play.
Potvin stopped 32 of 39 shots and fell to 14-19. He was pulled at 5:34 of the third period for Marcel Cousineau, who exited 15 seconds later without facing a shot.
Jon's 3 stars:
1. Mike Sillinger
2. Mats Sundin
3. Dana Murzyn
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