Power Play Woes Continue In Cowtown Saturday

The Vancouver Canucks maybe wasted a solid NHL debut for starting goaltender Cory Schneider Saturday night as they fell 3-1 to the Calgary Flames at the Pengrowth Saddledome.

Schneider certainly did his part to give his team a chance to win on the road Saturday night. At the other end of the rink, the team in front of the 22 year-old puckstopper didn't do itself any favours. They had three power plays on the night, but generated just one shot on net with the man advantage.

Kyle Wellwood had the lone goal for the Canucks in the loss. He converted a great pass out of the corner from Jannik Hansen and had no trouble beating goalie Mikka Kiprusoff. Mattias Ohlund collected the other assist on Wellwood's 9th of the year at 6:11 in the 3rd period.

That goal did give the Canucks some life at the time as they were trailing 2-0 at the time. The opening goal of the game came in the final minute of the 2nd period while the Flames worked a power play. Dion Phaneuf's point shot took a deflection out of mid-air off the stick of Damond Langkow and found the Canucks net. Todd Bertuzzi got the other assist on Langkow's 6th of the campaign at 19:22.

The goal which proved to be the game winner occured early in the final frame. With both Henrik and Daniel Sedin stuck deep in the Calgary zone on a lengthy shift, the Flames broke up ice on an odd-man rush. David Moss elected to shoot from the left face off circle and his decision was the right one, shooting it underneath the pads of Schneider. Curtis Glencross and Robyn Regher help Moss collect his 5th at 6:11.

Before the Canucks thought about getting their net empty for the extra attacker, the Flames restored their two-goal lead on a nice set-up by their captain. Jarome Iginla fed a beautiful pass to a wide open Matthew Lombardi who made no mistake finding the back of the net. It was Lombardi's 2nd of the season and it came at 18:38.

Final shots on net favoured the Flames 31-18, which included a total of 10-3 in the 2nd period.
The Canucks went 0-for-3 on the power play while Calgary finished 1-for-5.

Now with a record of 14-8-2, the Canucks will make their way to Ohio to prepare to take on the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday night.