Trevor Linden and Adrian Aucoin scored goals 33 seconds apart early in the second period to lead the Vancouver Canucks to their fourth straight win, a 4-3 triumph over the Calgary Flames.
The streak is the longest by the Canucks since they won six in a row from October 11th-23rd, 1994. Calgary has lost three in a row and is 0-2 against Vancouver this season.
The Flames tied the score 1-1 on rookie Jarome Iginla's sixth goal 2:18 into the second period. Six seconds later, Vancouver's Troy Crowder and Calgary's Todd Simpson were involved in a fight and the Canucks' Gino Odjick and Flames' Sasha Lakovic squared off.
Odjick received minor, major, misconduct and game misconduct penalties, leaving Vancouver shorthanded. But the Canucks still scored less than two minutes later, when Linden intercepted a clearing pass, skated in alone and beat Trevor Kidd for his third goal.
"When we play hard and fast, not standing around and waiting to see what happened, guess what... we can puts some wins together," said Linden. "That's the kind of hustle and urgency in our play that we needed. It's a big chance from what I saw a week ago."
Aucoin added his first of the season at 4:47 when he took a pass from Mike Sillinger just off the left post and flipped the puck into an open net, giving the Canucks a 3-1 edge.
"We battled back well, especially after all that in the second period," said Iginla. "It was a feisty game and that is how we like it, lots of stickwork and that, but I don't think anyone got hurt."
Vancouver increased its lead to 4-1 with 3:21 to play in the second on Mike Ridley's power-play goal.
Calgary fought back. Rookie Chris O'Sullivan posted his second goal with just over 12 minutes to play in the third. After Simpson drew a match penalty with 1:55 to play for an unprovoked attack on Pavel Bure. The Flames pulled Kidd for an extra attacker and cut the deficit to one on on Steve Chiasson's shot with 58 seconds to play and nearly tied the score as time ran out when Robert Reichel's shot from the left point hit the post.
"Well, it hit the post. I saw it come out and heard the buzzer," said McLean. "The bottom line is, they did not score the equalizer."
Simpson questioned Kerry Fraser's decision to give him a match penalty.
"I did not try to injure (Bure) and he is not injured. So, I do not think the rule should apply," said Simpson. "I took a penalty in the second period when (Bure) suckered me. I do not think that match penalty was warranted at the end of the game."
Odjick, who recorded 27 minutes worth of penalties in the game, tied Garth Butcher's franchise record of 1,668 penalty minutes.
Jyrkki Lumme also scored for Vancouver. Alexander Mogilny had a
pair of assists.
Jon's 3 stars:
1. Dave Roberts
2. Bret Hedican
3. Mike Ridley
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