Roberto Luongo's debut as the Canucks team captain was a successful one on Wednesday night, as the All-Star goalie stopped 35 shots en route to a 6-1 win over the Calgary Flames. The win was Vancouver's fifth consecutive pre-season victory.
The Canucks jumped out to an early lead on a goal by defenceman Alexander Edler just 21 seconds in. It was Vancouver's first shot on goal. Minutes later, Jannik Hansen beat a shaky Miikka Kiprusoff for his first of two tallies on the night.
Luongo stoned David Moss twice, Dion Phaneuf, Jarome Iginla and Andre Roy to preserve the 2-0 lead after 20 minutes.
Defenceman Robyn Regehr got the Flames within one nearly five minutes into the second, but Pavol Demitra countered for the Canucks with a power-play goal midway through the period. Demitra's marker ended Calgary's perfect pre-season penalty-killing record after 31 attempts.
Rookie blue-liner Lawrence Nycholat also found the back of the net with 4:24 remaining in the second to give the Canucks a 4-1 lead. The 30-year-old Calgary native, a career minor-leaguer since turning pro 11 years ago, one-timed a beautiful Burrows' pass from behind the net.
Hansen netted his second goal of the night five minutes into the final frame while a speedy and confident-looking Mason Raymond also beat Kiprisoff before the final buzzer sounded.
"I want to show that I can compete and be here for the long run,'' said Hansen.
Ryan Kesler and Alexander Burrows each recorded three assists while playing most of the game on a line with Hansen.
"It's easy to play with those two,'' said Hansen. "They're good players and they really puck-pursue and they're strong on puck. It's a lot of fun. If you find one of them with the puck, you know that you're going to end up with the puck.''
Hansen leads the Canucks in pre-season scoring with three goals and two assists in three games.
"He's playing with a lot more confidence and he's just keeping it simple,'' said Kesler. "Not to say that he was doing too much last year. This year, he's keeping it (more) simple. He's finding the puck and finding the net, which is good for him.''
The Canucks were outshot 36-23 but dominated play throughout the 60 minutes against a weary-looking Calgary club that now drops to 4-2 in exhibition play.
Canuck veterans Mattias Ohlund, Willie Mitchell and Daniel and Henrik Sedin had the night off.
The Flames power play was 0-for-7 while the Canucks was 1-for-4.
Vancouver will look to extend its pre-season streak to six games when they host the San Jose Sharks Thursday at GM Place, before wrapping up their exhibition play Sunday at home to the Anaheim Ducks.
The Canucks will open up the 2008/09 NHL regular season Thursday, October 9th when they once again play host to the Flames. The game will feature the return of former Canuck, Todd Bertuzzi, who did not dress for tonight's contest.
With a report from The Canadian Press
