Canucks set road record in Boston
TSN.ca Staff
3/3/2003
BOSTON (AP) - Matt Cooke scored two goals and added an assist as Vancouver broke a franchise record with its 21st road victory, 6-4 over the Boston Bruins on Monday night.
Vancouver is 6-0-3 in its last nine road games and is 47-16-8-1 on the road since the beginning of last season. The Canucks had 20 road victories on two previous occasions, most recently last season.
Boston extended its winless streak to nine games (0-5-3-1). The Bruins' last victory came Feb 14 against Florida.
The Canucks were ahead 3-1 after two periods, but the Bruins quickly tied it in the third. Glen Murray scored his second of the game when his slapshot trickled through Peter Skudra's pads at 3:25. Jonathan Girard lifted a shot over Skudra just 2:02 later. Boston outshot Vancouver 13-0 in the first seven minutes of the period.
But just when things were looking up for the Bruins, Cooke and Todd Bertuzzi scored 1:27 apart to give the Canucks a 5-3 cushion. After Cooke gave Vancouver a 4-3 lead, Bertuzzi redirected a shot by Markus Naslund through the legs of Jeff Hackett.
Hackett has allowed three or more goals in nine straight games for Boston, which hadn't gone nine games without a victory since the beginning of the 1999-00 season.
P.J.Axelsson scored with 37 seconds remaining to close the gap to 5-4. Marek Malik sealed the game with an empty-net goal for Vancouver.
The Canucks took charge in the second period when Trevor Linden, Trent Klatt and Cooke all scored. Linden tied the game 1-1 when he one-timed a pass from Brent Sopel on the power play.
The Bruins were outshot 10-0 in the first 12:57 of the second period.
Murray gave the Bruins an early 1-0 lead when he converted Mike Knuble's pass. Joe Thornton added two assists for Boston.
Notes: The win for Vancouver snapped a four-game winless streak against the Bruins, and improved its record against the Eastern Conference to 12-3-2. ... Goaltender Dan Cloutier missed his third consecutive game and defenceman Mattias Ohlund his second for Vancouver. ... Hackett is 6-11-3 lifetime against Vancouver. ... Boston is 37-7-7 against the Canucks at home. ... Vancouver defenceman Ed Jovanovski has seven assists in the last six games. ... Joe Thornton has eight goals and 10 assists in the last 14 games. ... The Canucks are 30-0-5 when leading after two periods.
Cheers,
Aquaman