Canucks Capitalize on Chances to Rally Against Red Wings

The Vancouver Cancucks scored twice in the third period to force overtime against the Detroit Red Wings Wednesday night, then notched a tally in the extra frame to pick up the win.

When the Red Wings made a bad line change with 1:59 left in the overtime, Sami Salo sent a pass to the breaking Brendan Morrison who moved in all alone on Detroit netminder Dominik Hasek and beat him five-hole for the game winner.

Morrison had tied the game at 7:23 of the third period, throwing the puck into an empty net after Hasek tripped on a rut in the ice and fell down, out of position, with the Red Wings already down two men.

“This isn’t about officiating,” Detroit head coach Mike Babcock later said. “We don’t get the job done, end of story.”

Markus Naslund pulled the Canucks to within one 2:33 earlier, scoring on a rebound.

Vancouver had opened the scoring only 18 seconds in to the game on a one-timer by Livonia native Ryan Kesler.

The Red Wings scored the game’s next three goals.

Mathieu Schneider knocked the puck out of mid-air on a rebound chance to put Detroit on the board at 9:24 of the first.

Just 2:01 later, Lidstrom fired a shot that bounced off Vancouver goalie Roberto Luongo, defenseman Mattias Ohlund, and into the net for a power play goal.

With 1:00 remaining in the second period, after an apparent goal by Mikael Samuelsson was called back, Dan Cleary lifted a shot over Luongo to put the Red Wings up by a pair of goals, before the Canucks’ third-period comeback began.

The Red Wings were down a main for almost two periods, when a hit by Willie Mitchell with 2:11 remaining in the first knocked Johan Franzen out of the game. With Franzen’s head down, Mitchell lifted his shoulder into the Swede’s jaw, sending him sprawling to the ice.

Franzen was helped off the ice by Jason Williams, who was felled by a similar hit from Edmonton’s Raffi Torres just two weeks ago. Williams missed three games with a concussion, which Franzen was also diagnosed with.