On Wednesday night, however, the Canucks enforcer used a Gordie Howe hat trick -- a goal, an assist and a fight -- to help Vancouver rally from an early 2-1 deficit to beat the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim 5-3.
"We seem to come out strong in the first period, but we don't seem to keep it going," said Vancouver's Donald Brashear, who laid out numerous bodychecks and fought the Ducks' Mark Janssens late in the first period. "The other two periods, that was the difference tonight.
"We can't think about other teams. We have to take it game by game. Even if we win them all and don't make the playoffs, at least we tried."
Jyrki Lumme, Brashear and linemates Martin Gelinas and Lonny Bohonos each had a goal and an assist for Vancouver, which is unbeaten in its last three games (2-0-1) and climbed within five points of Chicago for the final Western Conference playoff spot. The Canucks were buoyed by the return of captain Trevor Linden, who missed eight games with a bruised rib.
"The bottom line is we won the game," Gelinas said. "Obviously, we worked hard. We never got down on ourselves. We have a lot of character and Trevor came back tonight. It really felt good to finally come back and win a game."
Vancouver goalie Kirk McLean credited Linden's return for boosting the team.
"Trevor set the tone. He came out crashing and banging his first shift," he said. "Gino (Odjick) and 'Brash' got into a couple of altercations. The guys feed off that, not necessarily fights, just physical play and dictate what's going to happen out there. I felt good tonight. I wouldn't have suited up if I didn't."
Brian Bellows scored two of Anaheim's three power-play goals, but the Ducks lost their second straight game without sniper Teemu Selanne and fell to 1-3 on their six-game road trip. Anaheim remained sixth in the West, two points behind Phoenix and Edmonton and one ahead of Calgary and Chicago.
"They played well, but our penalty killing was brutal. Overall, I think we came out flat these last two games and I don't know why," said Anaheim star Paul Kariya, who had an assist. "It seems that they have to get the lead before we start waking up. There was talk of getting shots on McLean, but we didn't accomplish that. Fifteen shots or whatever we had was not enough. It doesn't matter who's playing in net, especially when a guy's coming off an injury."
Lumme, victimized on each of Anaheim's first two goals, tallied with 7:20 to go in the opening period, lifting Vancouver into a 2-2 tie. He corralled a loose puck at the right point and deked around defenseman Bobby Dollas before beating goaltender Guy Hebert low to the glove side for his 11th goal.
Gelinas' power-play marker with 5:02 remaining put the Canucks ahead for good. He lifted a rebound of Mike Ridley's shot over Hebert for his 29th goal. His two points gave him a career-high 58 for the season.
Brashear stretched Vancouver's lead to 4-2 just 1:48 into the second period. Bohonos backhanded a centering pass in front and Brashear put a quick wrister over Hebert's right shoulder for his fifth goal of the season and first since Jan. 2.
Hebert was replaced by Mikhail Shtalenkov after allowing four goals on only 12 shots.
Bohonos got his second goal in as many games at 1:50 of the third period before Bellows got his second of the game with 6:32 remaining.
The Ducks scored on two of their first three shots against Corey Hirsch, who gave way to McLean with 10:58 left in the first period. McLean turned aside 14 of 15 shots in his first appearance since March 3.
"The key for them was the goaltending change," Anaheim coach Ron
Wilson said. "Kirk came in and did a pretty good job. I didn't
think we shot the puck enough when we had the opportunities. We
looked for pretty plays instead of understanding that you've got
a guy in goal who hasn't played in a month and pepper him with
shots. You want to see if he's off-balance and things like
that, and we just didn't get the job done."
Jon's 3 stars:
1. Paul Kariya
2. Jyrki Lumme
3. Donald Brashear
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