Alex Burrows scored two of Vancouver’s five goals against Henrik Lundqvist, and the Canucks feasted on turnovers Wednesday night in a 6-3 victory over the New York Rangers.
The highly anticipated duel between Vezina Trophy favorites Lundqvist and Vancouver’s Roberto Luongo never really materialized as the New York netminder was gone 5:33 into the second period. He allowed five goals on 17 shots, but it was hard to blame Lundqvist for any of them.
Luongo made a season-high 39 saves.
Vancouver’s first four goals resulted from Rangers turnovers, and the last was scored while the Canucks were on a two-man advantage.
Kyle Wellwood scored a breakaway 4:16 in and Burrows followed with another— while the Canucks were short-handed—to make it 2-0 at 9:38.
The barrage got worse early in the second period. Burrows took advantage of yet another Rangers giveaway and netted his sixth of the season 1:23 in. Ryan Johnson pushed the lead to 4-0 just 58 seconds later. Three Rangers penalties followed, giving the Canucks a pair of lengthy 5-on-3 advantages.
Vancouver appeared to score again, but Rangers defenseman Michal Rozsival swept the puck off the goal line just before it fully crossed. New York got a reprieve after the long video review, but the good fortune didn’t last as the Canucks made it 5-1 just 20 seconds later at 5:33 when Pavol Demitra ripped in his fourth of the season and second in two games.
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Lundqvist didn’t wait to be summoned and skated right to the bench while the Canucks were celebrating. He was replaced by Steve Valiquette, who stopped all 15 shots he faced. Lundqvist, who started for the 14th time in 15 games, had gone 12 games without allowing more than two goals.
Chris Drury scored a power-play goal, and Aaron Voros banked a shot in off of Luongo’s back in the second period. Both goals trimmed the Rangers’ deficit to three. Ryan Callahan added another man-advantage tally 7:45 into the third, but New York’s winning streak ended at three.
Daniel Sedin added an empty-net goal for Vancouver with 2.3 seconds left.
Luongo’s best save came against Wade Redden in the second. He was bailed out early in the third when Redden struck both posts with a shot while the Rangers were on a 4-minute power play. He smothered a shot with 5 minutes gone in the third and drew chants of “Louuuu” from the sizable contingent of Canucks fans at Madison Square Garden.
Luongo made his 14th straight start, but had a streak of allowing fewer than three goals snapped at six—a stretch that included three of his NHL-leading five shutouts. He is due for a night off Thursday when the Canucks make the third stop of a four-game trip at Minnesota.
Wellwood sent the Canucks on the way to their fifth win in seven games (5-0-2) when he split defensemen Rozsival and Dmitri Kalinin and scored his eighth goal on 21 shots this season—an NHL-best shooting percentage of 38.1 percent.
Burrows then scored the league-worst seventh short-handed goal against the Rangers. New York has allowed the same amount of goals while on the power play as it has while killing penalties.
Notes: Rangers C Scott Gomez (leg) missed his fourth straight game and probably won’t play Saturday at Ottawa. Gomez felt better after an acupuncture treatment Tuesday. He is expected to skate Thursday. … Canucks D Alex Edler returned to the lineup after a two-game absence caused by the flu. … Rangers LW Markus Naslund, who spent 12 seasons with Vancouver, assisted on Callahan’s goal. … Lundqvist earned an assist when Drury scored. … D Shane O’Brien took five of the Canucks’ six penalties.
