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Tuesday, 24 March 2009
FINAL
5 - 2
FINAL 1 2 3 T
Canucks 2 1 2 5
Stars 1 0 1 2
GOAL SCORERS

VAN:   R. Kesler (PPG, 11:06 - 1st) , D. Sedin (PPG, 18:27 - 1st) , H. Sedin (PPG, 01:38 - 2nd) , R. Kesler (02:26 - 3rd) , H. Sedin (EN, 19:43 - 3rd)
DAL:   B. Morrison (04:44 - 1st) , J. Neal (09:00 - 3rd)
GOALIES

VAN: R. Luongo (W)
 DAL: M. Turco (L)
Canucks 5, Stars 2
Associated Press

PIC OF THE GAME
(click for full view)

DALLAS (AP) -Daniel Sedin was bloodied and down on the ice for a few minutes.

After he slowly picked himself up off the ground, the Vancouver left wing opted to remain in the game instead of going to the locker room for treatment.

Sedin's twin brother, Henrik, was unimpressed.

"It was nothing," Henrik Sedin said with a straight face. "He's not a baby."

Daniel Sedin scored the go-ahead goal moments after taking a stick in the mouth, Ryan Kesler and Henrik Sedin each had two goals, and the Vancouver Canucks beat the fading Dallas Stars 5-2 Tuesday night.

Inside the Game

The Canucks broke a one-one tie late in the first on Daniel Sedin's 27th goal of the season. It came 1:40 after he was briefly dazed by a high stick from Mark Fistric.

Sedin had a bloody lip, multiple stitches in his mouth and lost a cap that protected one of his teeth. He also had the game-winning goal to solidify Vancouver's standing in the Western Conference.

"I got hit by the high stick," Sedin said. "But it was nice to score on the power play. We got the lead and that was huge."

Vancouver is 17-4-1 over its past 22 games and has 87 points to surge into a tie for fourth place in the West with Chicago.

Roberto Luongo stopped 35 shots to help the Canucks snap a four-game road losing streak.

"It was a gritty game and we found a way to get goals," Luongo said. "Sometimes you're not going to get a picture-perfect goal, but you find a way to win."

Luongo was able to keep the Canucks close in the first, robbing Brendan Morrison's first chance of the game and his attempt to reach the 500-point mark in his career.

"I couldn’t believe it, he robbed me there, that was highway robbery right there," said Morrison.

Ryan Kesler
He continues to impress scoring two goals, including one after missing time with an injury to the head mid-game.
 
Roberto Luongo
Turned away 35 shots on the Dallas Stars, who knew the key was to get shots to the net.
 
Daniel Sedin
Took a high-stick to the mouth, then came back to score the powerplay goal and added an assist to the game winner.
 

"He played tremendous in the first period and that’s what we need, we could have been down two to three goals, so it was big for us," said Henrik.

Dallas lost its fourth straight and has slipped four points behind Nashville and Anaheim for the final playoff spot in the West.

"You can’t take anything away from Dallas, you look at the last few games that they’ve played, they’ve come out strong and this game was a big game for them too, it’s a matter of them making the playoffs or not."

Morrison and James Neal scored for the Stars, who are 4-11-1 since Feb. 21, and Marty Turco stopped 17 shots.

"It's disappointing," Morrison said. "We have nine games to go and who knows what can happen. We have to approach the next game like it's the last game of the year."

Henrik Sedin scored early in the second and added an empty-netter in the waning seconds.

Kesler's goal in the first period tied it, and he added another at 2:27 of the third to give Vancouver a 4-1 lead.

"He popped up, he was wide open and I think Turco was expecting a pass over to Alex Edler and we surprised him a little bit," said Mats Sundin, who assisted on Kesler's goal first goal.

"I think that first goal woke us up, we wanted to come in and have a first good five but obviously that didn’t happen," said Kesler. "We just had to regroup as a team and go back out there and really just throw pucks on the net and generate offence."

"We needed a good team effort to win," Daniel Sedin said.

Fistric was given a four-minute penalty at 3:13 of the first because of the high stick on Sedin.

Sami Salo blasted a shot from the right point that Sedin, who was still bleeding from the shot he took, deflected past Turco. Sedin skated into the dressing room for treatment seconds after giving the Canucks the lead for good.

Sedin was back on the ice for the second period and in time to assist on his brother's goal.

Henrik Sedin tipped in an attempt by Kevin Bieksa at 1:38 of the second, Vancouver's third-power play goal of the game.

The Canucks were 3-for-7 with a man advantage. They scored a pair of power-play goals in beating the Stars 4-2 last Tuesday.

"They have a good power play," Stars coach Dave Tippett said. "But we made them look awfully good."

Dallas took a 1-0 lead when Morrison took a pass off the endboards and backhanded a shot past Luongo at 4:44.

Luongo stopped 13 shots in the first and rebounded after giving up four goals before being pulled in a loss to Phoenix on Saturday.

Just seconds after going on their first power play, Kesler scored from the slot to tie the game at 11:06 of the first.

Notes: Dallas outshot Vancouver 37-22. ... Morrison scored his 500th career point. ... Kesler has four goals and six assists over his past seven games. ... Ossi Vaananen debuted as a Canuck tonight and registered his first point, an assist on Kesler's second goal.


Three star selections
1st:   RYAN KESLER
2nd:   ROBERTO LUONGO
3rd:   DANIEL SEDIN
Winning Goaltender
Roberto Luongo

Losing Goaltender
Marty Turco

SCHEDULE
.

HOME
AWAY
PROMOTIONAL

STANDINGS

WESTERN CONFERENCE
  TEAM GP W L OT GF GA PTS
1 p - CHI 48 36 7 5 155 102 77
2 y - ANA 48 30 12 6 140 118 66
3 y - VAN 48 26 15 7 127 121 59
4 x - STL 48 29 17 2 129 115 60
5 x - LAK 48 27 16 5 133 118 59
6 x - SJS 48 25 16 7 124 116 57
7 x - DET 48 24 16 8 124 115 56
8 x - MIN 48 26 19 3 122 127 55
9 CBJ 48 24 17 7 120 119 55
10 PHX 48 21 18 9 125 131 51
11 DAL 48 22 22 4 130 142 48
12 EDM 48 19 22 7 125 134 45
13 CGY 48 19 25 4 128 160 42
14 NSH 48 16 23 9 111 139 41
15 COL 48 16 25 7 116 152 39