VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA (AP) - Daniel Sedin had a goal and an assist, and Roberto Luongo made 25 saves to help the Vancouver Canucks beat the St. Louis Blues 2-1 on Wednesday night in their playoff opener.
Sami Salo added a power-play goal for the Canucks, 14-1-1 at home since the start of February. Game 2 of the Western Conference series is Friday night at GM Place.
Brad Boyes scored on a power play with 1:44 left in the second period to pull the Blues within a goal, but that was a lone bright spot for St. Louis special teams that were supposed to be an advantage in this quarterfinal series.
The Blues came in with a top-10 power play, and the NHL’s third-best penalty killing in the regular season. But the Canucks, middle of the pack in both categories, scored once on a delayed penalty and again on a power play, while killing off the first six Blues advantages in the penalty-filled game.
Sedin opened the scoring midway through the first period after drawing a penalty on a rush at the end of a Blues power play that managed just one shot. Before St. Louis could touch the puck, Sedin parked in the slot and redirected Pavol Demitra’s slap pass from the boards between Chris Mason’s legs.
The Blues went up two men a short while later after Salo slashed Boyes’ stick in half just 19 seconds after Mattias Ohlund was called for interference.
Luongo, who finished the regular season with consecutive shutouts, picked up where he left off to start the playoffs, making his best save during a lengthy 5-on-3 midway through the first period. With the Blues up two men for 1:42, Luongo threw out the left pad to rob Andy McDonald on a backdoor tap-in.
The Blues only managed one more shot before captain Keith Tkachuk’s roughing penalty reduced the advantage to 4-on-3 with 3 seconds left on the 5-on-3.
After St. Louis failed to convert another advantage to start the second period, Salo doubled the lead on a power play 5:11 into the period.
Henrik Sedin lost his stick in the corner, but kicked the puck to his identical twin brother behind the net, and Daniel’s backhand pass to Salo at the point was wired in through a screen.
St. Louis coach Andy Murray shook up his forward lines in the second period, and while it created more Canucks penalties, the Blues’ power play couldn’t convert.
After two more failed advantages, Boyes finally put the Blues on the board with Henrik Sedin serving a hooking penalty taken behind the St. Louis net. Luongo kicked Alex Steen’s screen shot off the right boards right to Boyes, who was unchecked at the far faceoff circle, and he snapped the puck into an empty net.
Mason, who came into the playoffs just as hot as Luongo, finished with 29 saves, most coming as the Canucks outshot the Blues 15-6 in the third period.
Mason kept St. Louis close with a couple good saves late in the first period, stopping Ohlund on a point-blank power play chance, and making a great blocker save off Daniel Sedin in alone on another power play. Mason got a break when Daniel Sedin hit the post on a 2-on-1 short-handed chance late in the second period, and again when Mason Raymond hit the post on the short side 5 minutes into the third.
Notes:@ The young Blues only dressed eight players with previous playoff experience, while the Canucks had 16. Canucks LW Taylor Pyatt hasn’t rejoined the team since fiancee Carly Bragnalo was killed in a car crash April 3 while vacationing with family in Jamaica. Bragnalo’s funeral was Tuesday in Thunder Bay, Ontario. … St. Louis forward Paul Kariya, who had surgery on both hips after recording 15 points in his first 11 games, is rehabbing in Vail, Colo., where the surgeries were performed, and could be cleared to return sometime within the week.
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