Sundin comes through for Canucks against Blues
Last Updated: Wednesday, February 11, 2009 | 12:42 AM ET
CBC Sports
Vancouver's Mats Sundin keeps the puck away from St. Louis's Jay McClement during the first period. (Tom Gannam/Associated Press)Slowly but surely, the old Mats Sundin is starting to emerge.
Sundin scored a pair of goals and Jannik Hansen netted the winner with 4:42 left in regulation to guide the visiting Vancouver Canucks to a 6-4 win over the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday night.
The Canucks rallied from a pair of two-goal deficits to earn their third straight win after losing eight in a row.
Sundin, who recently signed a one-year free-agent contract, is starting to regain his offensive form following a long layoff and slow start with Vancouver (three points in his first nine games). The Swedish forward now has six goals and 10 points in 12 games for Vancouver.
"It's a process for myself, but I think the last four or five games the legs are there," Sundin said. "I don't feel better or worse than what I thought it would be after 10 or 11 games."
Sundin is thriving on a line with Ryan Kesler and Pavol Demitra, which has registered 20 points the last three games.
"Ryan, in my book, is having a breakthrough season and Pavol is a veteran guy who knows where to go on the ice," said Sundin. "It's been fun playing with those two guys."
St. Louis scored a pair of goals late in the opening period, as Steve Wagner (at 18:27) and Brad Boyes (with four second left in the frame) both beat Canucks goalie Roberto Luongo with slapshots to give the Blues the advantage going into the first intermission.
The Canucks got on the scoreboard when Sundin scored with a back-handed shot at 3:48 of the second, but Keith Tkachuk scored on a back-hander of his own three minutes later while the Blues were on the power play.
Sundin netted his second of the game at the eight-minute mark, firing a Kevin Bieksa pass from the side of the net past Blues goalie Chris Mason.
Vancouver continued to press at the start of the third and after Blues defenceman Carlo Colaiacovo was called on a hooking penalty, the Canucks capitalized on the power play when Kesler snapped a cross-ice pass from Demitra by Mason at 7:58.
Andy McDonald restored the Blues' lead less than two minutes later, slipping the puck between Luongo's pads on a snap shot from in close.
McDonald, who agreed to a four-year contract extension with the Blues on Monday, returned to the lineup after being sidelined since mid-November with a broken left ankle.
"Probably my timing is a little bit off and I'm a little bit slow making decisions," McDonald said. "But I was excited to be out there."
Alexandre Burrows replied for Vancouver at 11:48, making a great move to burst into the St. Louis zone and ripping a wrist shot that deflected off the stick of Blues defenceman Jeff Woywitka and just inside the near post.
The Canucks were flying high by this point and took the lead for the first time in the game at 15:18, with Hansen scoring his sixth goal of the season on a wrist shot.
That knocked the life out of the Blues, and Demitra scored an empty-net goal with nine seconds left in regulation to seal the win for the Canucks.
The Canucks continue their three-game road trip with stops in Phoenix on Thursday and Dallas the next day, before returning home to host Montreal on Sunday.
With files from Associated Press
