Darcy Hordichuk of the Canucks decks Andre Roy on Tuesday. (Larry MacDougal/Canadian Press)

Pavol Demitra scored the decisive goal in the shootout as the visiting Vancouver Canucks prevailed 4-3 over the Calgary Flames at the Pengrowth Saddledome on Tuesday night.

Demitra was Vancouver's first skater in the showdown session, and he beat goaltender Mikka Kiprusoff with a low wrist shot between the pads.

Kiprusoff later stopped Ryan Kesler, but Roberto Luongo of the Canucks countered with pad and glove saves on Mike Cammalleri and Jarome Iginla, respectively.

That left it up to Flames forward Todd Bertuzzi, who spun in front of Luongo and fired a backhand shot off the left post.

Vancouver has won six of its last seven games (6-1-0) and trimmed Calgary's lead in the Northwest Division to eight points.

"It is fun to find ways to win," Canucks head coach Alain Vigneault said. "But the reality is we weren't very good for two periods.

"Roberto kept us in and, for whatever reason, in the third period we found our game and outplayed them."

Ryan Kesler scored twice for the Canucks (28-21-8), who began a four-game trek on a winning note in Calgary with future stops in Ottawa Toronto and Montreal.

"It was an important game for us," Kesler said. "We have to get these guys worried about us."

"I picked them up in the first 40 minutes and then they picked me up at the end," said Luongo, who posted 38 saves through regulation and overtime.

'Kyle got what he deserved'

Calgary led 3-2 on Rene Bourque's third-period goal and Kiprusoff looked like he had preserved the margin of victory with a spectacular stick save on Canucks forward Kyle Wellwood, diving across the net to swat the puck away with 9:18 left.

"Somehow, he was able to reach back and stop it right on the goal-line," Wellwood said. "That is definitely the best save I have ever had to deal with.

"I have seen that kind of thing in road hockey. But to do it in a game, like he did there, was pretty impressive."

"Kyle got what he deserved," Vigneault figured. "He's not bearing down and had an open net and he's shooting two miles an hour.

"Obviously, it looked like the goalie made a great save. But the player didn't make a great attempt there."

Even so, with Luongo benched in favour of an extra attacker, Kevin Bieksa scored the tying goal on a slapshot through heavy traffic with 51 seconds remaining in regulation.

"I had three or four shots in a row, but they kept being blocked or I missed the net," Bieksa said. "But the puck kept coming back to me and I found a way to squeak one in there."

Bourque and Iginla had one goal and one assist apiece for the Flames (33-18-6), who have notched at least one point in each of their last five games (3-0-2).

Daymond Langkow scored the other goal, Craig Conroy had two assists and Kiprusoff 40 saves.

'I felt better this game'

Calgary opened the scoring 9:51 into the contest on Iginla's 21st goal of the season, but only his third in the last 20 games.

Canucks defenceman Willie Mitchell sent the puck blindly up the side boards by flicking it between his legs, but it went directly to Conroy and he fed Iginla in the slot.

It marked Iginla's 822nd point in Calgary colours, tying him with Hall of Famer Al MacInnis for second-most in franchise history behind Theoren Fleury (830).

"I felt better this game," Iginla said. "I need to just keep building on this and start relaxing." Kesler replied for the Canucks with his 17th goal, a short-handed marker with 26 seconds left in the period.

Kesler intercepted the puck at the Calgary blue-line and set up linemate Alex Burrows for a slapshot that Kiprusoff stopped, but Bertuzzi accidentally kicked the rebound to Kesler and he whisked it in the net.

Steve Bernier then passed the puck to Kesler at the right post and he whacked his own rebound out of mid-air and into the net for his second goal of the game and 18th overall, making it 2-1 Canucks with less than three minutes left in the second period.

But Langkow knotted it 64 seconds later on a similar play, receiving the puck at the right post from David Moss behind the net and chipping it past Luongo on the third try for his 18th.

Bourque put the Flames ahead 3-2 less than seven minutes into the third period as he skated up ice on an odd-man rush and beat Luongo between the pads with a wrist shot for his 20th.

"We didn't play our best hockey the first two periods and then, with us still tied, I give up that goal," Luongo said. "But that is what we do as a team — we try to bail each other out and, tonight, you saw both sides of that."

With files from the Canadian Press