Vancouver Canucks 5, Calgary Flames 4 FINAL 3rd OT

CALGARY, Alberta (AP) _ Brendan Morrison got the opening he needed for the Vancouver Canucks.

The former Michigan star scored 2:28 into the third overtime to give the Canucks a 5-4 victory over Calgary on Saturday night, forcing a seventh game in the first-round series.

``Being in the right spot at the right time,'' Morrison said. ``We did what we wanted to do. We stayed alive. Now we have to go out and win the next one.''

Calgary overcame a 4-0 deficit to force overtime, tying it on Chris Clark's goal with 7:04 left in regulation.

But Morrison sent the series back to Vancouver for Game 7 on Monday night, beating goalie Miikka Kiprusoff to end the longest game of the season and the longest in Vancouver history.

Morrison took a short pass from Markus Naslund, came out of the corner to the left of Kiprusoff, skated in front and outwaited Kiprusoff before sliding the puck past the goalie's blocker.

``He made a good play to protect the puck and take it to the net,'' Flames coach Darryl Sutter said.

Calgary's Martin Gelinas had a breakaway early in the second overtime, but goalie Alex Auld stopped the forward with a poke check. Halfway through the period, Ville Nieminen of the Flames fired a wrist shot off the crossbar.

``I felt like both teams were getting some chances,'' Trevor Linden said. ``Both teams had opportunities to end it. They hit a crossbar and we missed the net a few times, but it's overtime and that's the way it goes.''

Just 16 seconds after Vancouver took a 4-0 lead on Geoff Sanderson's goal midway through the second period, Oleg Saprykin scored to start Calgary's comeback.

Nieminen made it 4-2 with 7:42 left in the period, and Gelinas and Clark added third-period goals.

``I think we showed a tremendous amount of determination and character tonight,'' Sutter said. ``It's kind of an attrition deal right now. You just try to hang on.''

Jarkko Ruutu opened the scoring for Vancouver late in the first period, and Daniel Sedin, Brad May and Sanderson added second-period goals.

Auld made 36 saves for the Canucks. Kiprusoff stopped 47 shots for the Flames.

The Canucks are playing without star forward Todd Bertuzzi, suspended indefinitely for an on-ice attack in the regular season that left Colorado's Steve Moore with a broken neck.