Canucks extend road record
Associated Press
11/10/2002
PHOENIX (AP) - If the Vancouver Canucks can just carry their fine road play back home, they might be in for a very good season.
Todd Warriner and Trevor Linden scored 25 seconds apart late in the third period and Dan Cloutier made 35 saves as the Canucks beat the Phoenix Coyotes 5-2 Saturday night.
Vancouver finished its four-game road trip 3-1 and improved to 4-1-2 away from home.
``It was a great road trip for us, especially the teams we played. They are not easy buildings to go into,'' Cloutier said, noting earlier wins at Detroit and Colorado. ``We stuck with it until the end here and Todd finally put it away.''
Todd Bertuzzi, who also had a key goal for the Canucks, gave a lot of credit to Cloutier.
``He's been holding the fort together a lot of nights,'' Bertuzzi said. ``He works extremely hard on his game and he wants to be the best goalie out there. We wouldn't have a couple of those wins if it wasn't for him.''
Todd Simpson and Daniel Briere scored for Phoenix, which fell to 2-4 at home and failed to get to the .500 mark (6-8-0-1).
``Sometimes you win games you don't deserve and sometimes you lose games you don't deserve and I think that might have been the case tonight,'' said Coyotes coach Bob Francis, whose team began the season with seven losses in 10 games. ``I think we are being more consistent with our play and if we keep this up, we are going to improve.''
Bertuzzi gave Vancouver a 3-1 lead 2:33 into the third period, scoring his seventh of the season on a one-timer past screened goalie Brian Boucher.
Briere closed Phoenix's deficit to 3-2 three minutes later, skating out from behind the Canucks net and wristing a shot to the top corner.
But Warriner scored on a breakaway from centre with 1:36 to play to make it 4-2. Linden sealed the win with an empty-net goal.
Markus Naslund was credited with Vancouver's first goal - his eighth - when the puck went in off Briere's skate during a scramble in the crease with 7:15 left in the opening period.
Trevor Letowski, traded by the Coyotes to Vancouver last Dec. 28, made it 2-0 by tipping in Murray Baron's slapshot from the point with 1:46 left in the second period.
Simpson cut Phoenix's deficit in half 52 seconds later with a rising slapshot from the left circle that sailed over Cloutier's glove.
Boucher made 27 saves in his eighth consecutive game. Starting goalie Sean Burke is out because of a sprained ankle.
Notes: Simpson was playing in just his second game of the season after missing the first 11 with a broken bone in his right hand. ... Coyotes RW Tony Amonte has not scored in seven games. LW Ladislav Nagy is without a goal in eight. ... Vancouver leads the series 12-11-2 since the Coyotes franchise relocated from Winnipeg before the 1996-97 season. ... The Canucks, the NHL's top penalty-killing team, didn't allow a goal on Phoenix's power plays.
Cheers,
Aquaman