VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) – Alex Tanguay scored the winning goal in the third round of the shootout and the Calgary Flames beat the Vancouver Canucks 4-3 on Saturday night.
After both teams failed to score on overtime power plays, Jeff Tambellini and Rene Bourque traded goals in the first round of the shootout before Tanguay’s backhand in the final round was stopped by Roberto Luongo.
But Luongo slid into the net with the puck stuck in his pads, requiring a lengthy video review to reverse the call. Although the puck couldn’t be seen going over the goal line, the referee announced, “The pad was in the net.”
Tim Jackman put Calgary ahead on a rebound 6:42 into the third period, but Ryan Kesler tied it on a short-handed 2-on-2 three minutes later, taking a drop pass from Alex Burrows and firing his 26th goal in through Burrow’s screen.
Brendan Morrison, on a power play, and Curtis Glencross scored 20 seconds apart midway through the first period, and Miikka Kiprusoff made 41 saves for the Flames, who were coming off a 7-4 home win over Dallas on Friday. Calgary has points in seven of eight games (4-1-3).
Defenseman Alexander Edler scored twice, and Roberto Luongo made 30 saves for the Canucks, who are 1-2-3 since their 17-game point streak (14-0-3) was snapped. Vancouver is tied with Philadelphia with an NHL-best 67 points.
Edler opened the scoring off the rush 3:32 in on the Canucks’ first shot, a long one-timer from just inside the blue line that went through traffic and under a surprised Kiprusoff. But the Flames responded with two quick goals.
First it was Morrison, who played parts of eight seasons in Vancouver, lifting a rebound over a sprawled Luongo from a sharp angle on the power play. On the next shift, Matt Stajan won a battle behind the net and centered the puck to an unchecked Glencross for a quick backhanded shot that beat Luongo on the glove side.
Morrison saved a goal by sweeping a loose puck off the goal line after Kiprusoff did well just to get a glove on a point-blank shot from Mason Raymond with five minutes left in the first period, but Edler tied it 1:13 into the second.
After four cross-ice passes off the rush stranded Kiprusoff, Edler’s shot was headed wide only to hit the blocker of the sprawling goalie and go in.
Calgary forward Tom Kostopoulos returned after serving a six-game suspension for a Jan. 7 hit that broke the jaw of Detroit defenseman Brad Stuart. He knocked Vancouver defender Kevin Bieksa out of the game during a first-period fight.
Kostopoulos dropped Bieksa to his knees with an early punch. Though Kostopoulos popped back up and served his penalties, including an extra two minutes for cross-checking, Bieksa went to the dressing room and didn’t return.
Notes: Bieksa leads the Canucks at plus-20 and was third in defenseman scoring with 17 points despite playing on a shutdown pairing. … Vancouver was already missing D Aaron Rome (knee) and Andrew Alberts (shoulder) for the next two to three weeks, and rookie Chris Tanev played his third NHL game. … Morrison, who signed with Calgary after being released from a training-camp tryout by his hometown Canucks, scored for a second straight game after going 16 without a goal. … Luongo hasn’t lost in regulation in 15 games (10-0-5) since Dec. 5. … Jackman has scored three of his seven goals this season against Vancouver.
