Canucks 4, Ducks 0

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VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) – The biggest plot line this side of Heroes fizzled on the shoulders of Roberto Luongo Tuesday night at The Garage.
 
Luongo made 15 of his 26 saves in the first period on his way to recording a second consecutive shutout as Vancouver avenged their second-round loss to Anaheim in last year's Stanley Cup playoffs.

Ryan Kesler scored twice and Markus Naslund and Matt Cooke added singles for the Canucks who overcame a slow start scoring twice in the second and third periods in a 4-0 victory.

The win spoiled the return of former Canuck Todd Bertuzzi, who played his first regular season game in Vancouver since being traded to the Florida Panthers in exchange for Luongo back in 2006.

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"Well definitely we had [last year's playoffs] in the back of our heads," said Luongo, who now has three shutouts this season."They're the team that eliminated us last year and it was important for us to try to get the win and we did a really good job on that especially once we got going in the second period."

It certainly didn't take long for Tuesday's game to heat up as two teams that built up animosity in the playoffs last season, engaged in seemingly endless post-whistle scrums which gave rise to seven roughing penalties, one fight and three misconducts.

The difference - aside from Luongo's first-period heroics - were penalties. Anaheim was whistled for six minors in the second, and another seven in the third, which allowed the Canucks to put a pair of power-play goals behind JS Giguere and keep Anaheim's skilled offensive players hemmed in their own end.

"They could've had a penalty on every shift out there," said Alain Vigneault, whose team finished 2-for-10 with the man advantage. "It's amazing the stick-work and the cross-checking that they do, and that they get away with, and that their good players get away with. And obviously the referees, after the first, started calling more of the things there."

The Canucks are now 8-1-2 in their last 11 games and have clawed back to .500 at General Motors Place after starting the year 2-6-1 at home.

As he did during the Ducks' five-game win in the second round of the postseason, Luongo starred for the Canucks. But unlike that series, the Canucks found a way to solve Giguere on this night.

The Canucks were outshot 15-5 in the opening period and Luongo kept the game scoreless by making a handful of highlight-reel saves, including forcing Bertuzzi to shoot wide on a breakaway late in the opening frame.

“They were firing everything at the net but I was able to challenge the shooter every time,” said Luongo. “Luckily there were no back door plays and stuff like that and no rebounds, so it makes me much more comfortable knowing that I can focus on the shooter in those instances.”

Vancouver turned the tables in the second, scoring three times before Anaheim managed its first shot on net with six minutes left.

Naslund opened the scoring 3:2O into the period with a perfect wrist shot off the post and in over Giguere's glove. Kesler doubled the lead just 10 seconds into a 5-on-3 power play, shoveling a rebound under the Ducks goalie. He took a cross check in the ribs from Chris Pronger that only seemed to ignite the Vancouver bench.

3 STARS

Roberto Luongo Made 26 saves on his way to his second consecutive shutout.

Ryan Kesler Scored two goals on the power-play and led all skaters with six shots .

Mattias Ohlund Assisted on two goals and finished with a +2 rating. Led the team with three blocked shots and four hits.

“Seeing the replay on the jumbotron, you can clearly see that my hands were in the air already,” said Kesler. “He just wanted to get a lick on me I guess.”

Before the crowd eased up on Pronger, the Canucks scored again.

Matt Cooke deflected an Alexander Edler shot four minutes later and Kesler added his second on a power-play breakaway five minutes into the third period to up his season total to seven goals, three shy of his career best.

“I feel pretty confident out there with the puck and I think it’s just going to continue to grow…I’ve known it was there, it was just a matter of time before it came out and I think you’re just starting to see it,” said Kesler.

Giguere was hooked midway through the third giving way to rookie Jonas Hiller, who finished with six saves, plus a penalty shot stop against Henrik Sedin with 49.4 seconds left in the game.

Hank tried an elaborate deke on rough ice that finished with him cutting across the crease and attempting to drag the puck behind Hiller’s trailing pad with one hand.

As string as Hiller was in relief of Giguere, there was nothing he could do about the performance at the other end.

Luongo, who has 35 career shutouts to his name, was spectacular.

“They played a really strong first period, and obviously the difference was Roberto,” said Vigneault.

Ducks head coach Randy Carlyle wasn’t quite as effusive about Luongo’s performance, but credited the Canucks for their resilience all the same.

“We had some decent chances but we didn’t make some adjustments. He [Luongo] was over-challenging on a lot of situations where there was lots of net behind him and we didn’t make the proper choices. But you’ve got to give the opposition credit, they played their game to a T and we didn’t play ours.”

Bertuzzi was a minus-two in just under 13 minutes of ice time with three missed shots.

“He was like the rest of our team,” said Carlyle. “I thought he had a decent first period but after that he fit in with the mold of our group. We didn’t do very much after that point.”

“I thought we played good in the first,” said Bertuzzi. “We were getting shots through, we were getting into traffic areas, but for some reason going into the second we just backed off and ran into penalty trouble and they ended up getting their goals.”

“You know what, I didn’t think much about it,” said Nalsund, who spent seven seasons with Bertuzzi before the trade. “I think it was probably weirder for him facing a lot of his old teammates than it was for me. It’s different seeing him in another uniform. To me, he always looked the best in a Canuck uniform.”

Notes: Naslund, who also had an assist, has seven goals in seven games. ... Kesler has four goals in four games. ... Bertuzzi, who played eight seasons in Vancouver, received a rousing ovation during a pregame tribute on the arena scoreboard.