NHL | Canucks endure personnel losses
VANCOUVER, B.C. - The Vancouver Canucks are losing top defensemen, yet keep winning games.
Markus Naslund and Henrik Sedin each had a goal and an assist, and Roberto Luongo made 29 saves as the Canucks overcame a suspension to respected defender Mattias Ohlund to beat the Calgary Flames 4-1 Sunday night.
Willie Mitchell and Brad Isbister both scored their first goals of the season, and Daniel Sedin added two assists as the Canucks improved to 5-0-1 since losing top-four defensemen Kevin Bieksa and Sami Salo to serious injuries Nov. 1.
Vancouver had lost four of five and was three games below .500 before the injuries, which forced the Canucks to tighten up in their own zone.
“Systematically, we’re much more sound. It’s night and day,” said Mitchell, a stay-at-home defenseman who helped kill three straight penalties before scoring his first goal in 46 games.
“Passes are there, support is there and coverage is there. We were forced into that with all the injuries.”
Adrian Aucoin scored for the Flames, who had a two-game winning streak snapped. Calgary has lost six of eight, falling two points behind the Canucks.
“The word to use would be ‘inconsistency,’ ” Flames coach Mike Keenan said. “We have a good power-play night and a bad penalty-killing night and we flip-flop, or great goaltending and then not the best.”
Miikka Kiprusoff started again for the Flames, even though he backstopped a win Saturday night in Edmonton. He finished with 17 saves Sunday.
After losing Salo (broken nose) and Bieksa for two months with a lacerated calf, the Canucks lost Ohlund to a four-game league suspension announced hours before the game.
Ohlund was suspended for a baseball-like swing Friday that left Minnesota forward Mikko Koivu with a cracked bone in his left leg.
Lukas Krajicek took Ohlund’s place, returning a few games earlier than expected after missing 3 ½ weeks because of a broken bone in his ankle.
“The boys beared down,” said Luongo, who has a .946 save percentage since the defensemen were hurt. “We lost another D-man, so guys just picked up the pace again and it was a really good effort from our group, especially in our own zone.”
Keenan, then general manager of the Florida Panthers, traded Luongo to Vancouver before the 2006-07 season.
The Flames were also without a top defenseman most of the game after Robyn Regehr took a slap shot from Krajicek in the ear 1:31 into the game. He was held out for the remainder of the game for precautionary reasons.
“It was a big loss early but we’ve got no complaints because you look at their roster and the people they have out, arguably their top three defensemen,” Keenan said. “[Regehr] will be evaluated [today].”