Dubnyk never saw it as he was screened on the play by

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VANCOUVER - Eddie Lack helped the Vancouver Canucks overcome a case of the blues Wednesday night. Lack made 20 saves for his third shutout of the season as the Canucks blanked the St. Louis Blues 1-0 in the first post-Olympic game for both teams night. The win was like sweet music to the Canucks (28-24-9) as they ended their losing streak at seven games while moving into sole possession of eighth place in the Western Conference. The Blues (39-13-6) dropped their third straight decision to Vancouver this season as they were shut out for the first time in 2013-14. "It feels very good to be able to shut the door," said Lack. "It was very big for our team. "Its a big relief." The Canucks outshot the Blues 35-20, but Lack, Vancouvers backup who is in his first full NHL season, was forced to make many difficult saves. "I feel like I have been working on this start for a while and I was really excited to play, and Rollie (Melanson, Vancouvers goalie coach) has been bugging me for weeks saying we need to win these 1-0 games, so its huge," said Lack. Jannik Hansen scored the games only goal as he finally broke a scoreless deadlock at 11:13 of the third period. He took a backhand stretch pass from Tom Sestito from deep in the Vancouver zone just past centre ice, raced in on a breakaway and beat Halak with a high shot. It was Hansens first goal in just over a month, a span of eight games, after he last scored Jan. 26 against Phoenix. "Great play by Tommy, he could see I was taking off a little early and he fed me a nice pass, and I was able to get it through the goalie," said Hansen. "You dont have to look at the standings very long to see we need to win a lot of games here to make the playoffs, and its obviously a very strong opponent today, a playoff team. These are the teams you have to beat. We cant just beat the teams below us." Vancouver was blanked on four power plays while St. Louis failed to score on three. Lack drew the start after backstopping the Canucks to a pair of wins over St. Louis earlier this season. Three of his nine wins have come against the Blues, and he has allowed only three goals to them. The Canucks came out with the added aggression that coach John Tortorella has been seeking as they outshot the Blues 14-6 in the first period. But for most of the night, the hosts could not beat a steady Halak, who felt fresh after playing just two games for Slovakia in the Olympics and getting plenty of rest after arriving back in St. Louis last Thursday. "It was a pretty good pace for 60 minutes," said Halak. "It was just that we came up short. We couldnt score. "I tried to do my best. I tried to give the guys a chance to win. Id like to get (Hansens goal) back." St. Louis had nine players in Sochi and the Canucks had seven. But Blues coach Ken Hitchcock, who served as an assistant with Canadas gold-medal-winning team, did not think post-Olympic fatigue was a factor. "It was a hard fought, well played game for the most part," said Hitchcock. "I didnt think we had the energy in the third period than we did in the end of the first and the second. We had a great second period. But weve had trouble beating (Lack.) We havent scored on him, and hes made some big saves and hes won a lot of the scrambles. We had all the penetration in the second period for all the scoring chances." Hitchcock lamented his teams inability to score on odd-man rushes in two losses in Vancouver this season. "When you get two-on-ones and three-on-ones on the road, youve got to capitalize," he said. "I think that was the difference in the hockey game." Lacks best moments came late in the second period as he denied Blues captain David Backes on a one-timer during a delayed penalty and Alex Steen on a deflection, and got his pad on a T.J. Oshie shot before defenceman Alex Edler blocked the puck as he attempted to put in the rebound. After the save, fans chanted "Eddie! Eddie!" But Oshie, who played for the U.S. in the Olympics, was not willing to give Lack too much credit. "He made some good saves, but I dont think we really tested him like we could have," said Oshie. "We let him see a lot of pucks." There was no denying Vancouvers desperation though. "Theyre a desperate team right now," said Halak. "For them, every game is a playoff game. They need to get every point that they can." Notes: Olympians from both teams were honoured in a pre-game ceremony. Blues defencemen Jay Bouwmeester and Alex Pietrangelo drew loud cheers from the crowd when they were saluted, along with Canucks defenceman Dan Hamhuis and goaltender Roberto Luongo, for helping Canada win the 2014 Olympic gold medal. … Tortorella worked his first home game since receiving a six-game suspension for storming the Calgary Flames dressing room area Jan. 18. … Canucks captain Henrik Sedin returned to action after suffering an undisclosed injury before the Olympics. He missed the past two practices while tending to a personal matter in Sweden, but returned Wednesday in time for the game. Defenceman Kevin Bieksa returned after missing five games before the Olympic break with a foot injury. … Vancouver centre Ryan Kesler sat out with a hand injury suffered while playing for the U.S. in the Olympics. Canucks defencemen Chris Tanev (thumb) and Andrew Alberts (concussion) remained out. … Blues defenceman Jordan Leopold missed the game due to an ankle injury. He was replaced by Carlo Colaiacovo. Brandin Cooks Jersey . And he thinks its "irresponsible" for the Buffalo Sabres to suggest otherwise. The NHLs new sheriff reacted strongly to complaints from the Sabres on Monday after he elected not to suspend Bruins forward Milan Lucic for his collision with Buffalos Ryan Miller. Thomas Morstead Jersey . While Canadian women have stood on the Olympic podium in the sport, a Canadian man never has. http://www.authenticsaintsteamshop.com/Archie-Manning-Saints-Jersey. -- If the Bears make changes this off-season, it will not be at quarterback. Drew Brees Jersey . Amid lusty boos from a modest crowd on a rainy, 46-degree night, Cano began his first game in the Bronx since joining Seattle this winter for $240 million with a wink -- at Yankees starter CC Sabathia (3-3). Rickey Jackson Jersey . Almost 18 months after Armstrongs seven Tour wins were wiped from the record, an independent panel created by the new International Cycling Union leadership has begun work to discover the extent of the sports past problems.CALGARY -- An ugly goal for the Calgary Flames and goaltender Reto Berra was a thing of beauty for the desperate Edmonton Oilers. From near the corner and below the goal line, David Perron flung the puck towards the net, banking it off Berras shoulder and in for the go-ahead goal as Edmonton snapped a five-game losing streak Saturday night with a 4-2 come-from-behind victory over the Calgary Flames. Boyd Gordon capped the scoring into an empty net as the Oilers stormed back with four unanswered goals in the third period to steal the first of five meetings between the provincial rivals. "Id be kidding if I said I knew I would score but I saw a little bit of room, I put it there and it was in the net so it felt good," said Perron. Just over two minutes earlier, the Oilers tied the game 2-2 on another strange one. Sam Gagners shot deflected off Flames defenceman Dennis Wideman and fluttered high in the air. While Berra couldnt find it, Ales Hemsky batted it in from out of mid-air for his first goal in 12 games. Edmonton started its comeback at 3:41 when Jordan Eberle, who was uncovered in the slot, took a drop pass from Taylor Hall and ripped a shot over Berras blocker. The three-goal barrage happened in a span of 6:42 and came on four shots. "We gave them two goals out of three," said Flames coach Bob Hartley, visibly unhappy. "After 40 minutes, I felt that we gave them nothing. We were playing our style. Then, their first goal and third goal, theres only one word for those two goals - awful." Edmonton (5-15-2), which began the night in last place in the NHL, won for just the second time in its last 12 (2-9-1). Sean Monahan and Wideman scored for Calgary (6-11-3). The Flames are winless in their last six, and are 0-4-1 in their last five games at the Scotiabank Saddledome. "We have a lot of pressure on us from our team itself, from the organization, from the fans, they expect us to win and when youre not winning, it kills the confidence on your team," said Eberle. "You start making plays that youre not used to making, you start squeezing the stick and you start not playing as a team." Eberle himself had been in a lengthy slump with just one goal in his previous 12 games. "Momentum is a huge thing in this game. When things arent going, you sometimes get pissed off and try to do things yourself and thats when things start breaking down even more," said Eberle. "So when you finally get rewarded and get some confidence, were going to use that." Oilers coach Dallas Eakins says the smallest of things can turn around a teams fortunes and he hopes thiss result will provide that boost for his team.dddddddddddd He used Philadelphias recent 3-0-1 run as an example. "We were in a close game with them. We end up losing the game, they had been on the down and out and it seemed like every time I look at the scoreboard lately, theyve been winning," Eakins said. "When you get that winning feeling again, its contagious. Just like when you have that losing feeling, its contagious too." The first of five meetings between the provincial rivals featured the teams ranked 13th and 14th in the Western Conference. The Flames remain three points up on Oilers, although they are 12 points back of a playoff spot. "Great start. In the first two periods, I thought we were the better team. Then, in 10 or 12 minutes, we lost the game, so thats really disappointing and nobody in this locker-room can be happy," said former Oilers defenceman Ladislav Smid. "We have to learn how to finish those kind of games. We knew they have lots of talent over there. We should have just played the same game for 60 minutes, no matter what happened." Devan Dubnyk had a great night for the Oilers making 33 saves to improve to 4-10-1. It comes on the same night that newly signed Ilya Bryzgalov picked up a win in his second AHL conditioning start, allowing only one goal in Oklahoma Citys 4-1 victory over Abbotsford. Making his sixth start in the last seven games, Berra had 19 saves to fall to 1-4-1. Calgary took a 2-0 lead at 17:08 of the second period on a rocket off the stick of Wideman. Dubnyk never saw it as he was screened on the play by Lee Stempniak. Sean Monahan gave the Flames a 1-0 lead at 12:23. It was the first goal in seven games for Calgarys 2013 first round draft pick and just his second in the last 12 after he started the season with six in his first eight. It also marked the first time Calgary held a lead after the first period in three weeks. In the previous eight games, the Flames had been outscored 11-1 in the opening 20 minutes. The game began with a throwback to the old days of the Battle of Alberta as heavyweights Brian McGrattan and Luke Gazdic squared off in a lengthy fight that fired up the crowd. Notes: Healthy scratches for Calgary were RW Tim Jackman and D Sean OBrien... LW Ryan Jones was not in the line-up for Edmonton... After several years of Calgary domination, Edmonton has won five of the last seven games between the two teams ... Flames LW TJ Galiardi hasnt scored in his last 18 games. Also slumping is D TJ Brodie, who has no points in his last eight games... For Edmonton, Nugent-Hopkins has one goal in his last 13 games. ' ' '