Vancouver fans better take some pictures tonight because they won't be seeing the Canucks for a long time.
The Canucks play their last home game until the middle of March on Wednesday night as they host the St. Louis Blues at General Motors Place.
With opening ceremonies for the 2010 Winter Olympics set to begin in Vancouver on February 12, the Canucks will embark on what is technically a 14-game road trip on Saturday in Toronto. Vancouver will play eight games before the NHL's Olympic break and then another six when play resumes in March.
That means that following tonight the Canucks won't play at GM Place until March 13 versus the Senators.
First, Vancouver will try to wrap a four-game homestand perfect and extend its season-best winning streak to six games. Vancouver hasn't won that many games in a row since February 10-22, 2007.
The Canucks got the game-winning goal from an unlikely source on Monday versus Buffalo, as Brad Lukowich scored for the first time in 111 games to lift Vancouver to a 3-2 victory. It marked the 33-year-old defenseman's first goal since November 5, 2007 while with Tampa Bay. Lukowich had spent most of this season in the AHL before skating in his eighth game this season with Vancouver on Monday.
"I just put my stick down screamed like crazy," said Lukowich, who converted a Daniel Sedin no-look, between-the-legs pass for the goal. "It's been a while, that's why I looked to the heavens."
Henrik Sedin and Mikael Samuelsson also tallied for the Canucks, who are 12-2-2 over their last 16 games and are tied with Colorado for first place in the Northwest Division with 66 points each.
Daniel Sedin ended with two assists and Henrik also had a helper to up his NHL-leading point total to 76. He is also second in the league with 52 assists and has four goals and eight helpers over a five-game point streak as well as nine tallies and 23 helpers over his last 16 games.
Alex Burrows, meanwhile, notched an assist to run his point streak to 12 straight games, a span in which he has 13 goals and six helpers.
Making his 23rd straight start, Roberto Luongo turned aside 30 shots and has a 1.99 goals-against average over Vancouver's five-game win streak.
The Blues come to town having won the opener of a three-game tour through western Canada with Monday's 2-0 blanking of the Calgary Flames. Ty Conklin made 34 saves for his third shutout of the season and 13th of his career.
"You win hockey games on the road when your goaltender performs like that. [Conklin] he was solid," said St. Louis head coach Davis Payne.
Patrik Berglund and David Perron scored for the Blues, who snapped a two-game losing streak and won for the sixth time in their last nine tries. St. Louis is five points back of a playoff spot in the Western Conference.
David Backes missed his third straight game due to an upper-body injury while Carlo Colaiacovo has missed two in a row with a lower-body ailment. Both players remain day-to-day.
The Blues had won three straight over the Canucks before Vancouver posted a 4-3 overtime win at St. Louis on December 31. The Blues have lost five of their last seven at Vancouver.
