Sami Salo had one chance and little time.
Salo scored with less than a second left in overtime to give the
Vancouver Canucks a 3-2 victory over the St. Louis Blues on Friday
night.
``I thought there would be time for one move,'' he said. ``So
that's what I did and just found a hole.''
Salo assisted on Markus Naslund's goal that sent the game into
overtime. Naslund, who had an assist on the game-winner, tied the
score 2-2 with 26 seconds left in regulation with the Canucks'
second power-play goal.
The clock showed 0:00 after Salo scored and the Blues refused to
leave the ice for about 2 minutes. The referees, who initially left
the ice without reviewing the goal, returned and concluded it
crossed the line before time expired but there wasn't enough time
remaining to hold a faceoff.
``I was surprised that they skated off the ice without evening
pointing to centre and calling it a goal,'' St. Louis coach Mike
Kitchen said. ``That was really poor.''
Vancouver backup goaltender Curtis Sanford stopped 36 shots,
including 16 in the second period and five in overtime.
``The difference in the game was Sanford,'' Canucks assistant
coach Rick Bowness said. ``As far as we're concerned, it shouldn't
have gotten to OT.''
Sanford stopped the first 26 shots he faced in his second start
of the season before Taylor Pyatt scored at the 7:30 mark of the
third period to pull Vancouver within 2-1. Vancouver outshot St.
Louis 39-19 overall and 6-3 in the overtime.
Both teams had two power-play goals, although the Canucks
struggled for most of the game with an extra man. They failed on
seven chances through the first two periods before Pyatt notched his
third goal of the season with a two-man advantage. Vancouver
finished with two goals in 11 power plays.
St. Louis, which had nine power-play opportunities, came into the
game ranked 22nd in the league with a man advantage. The Blues had
scored four goals in 32 attempts in their first six games.
Kitchen said all the power plays kept the Blues from running
their game plan. He said Sanford played an ``excellent'' game but
that he felt good about his team's chances beyond overtime.
``It would have been nice to get into a shootout and see where it
would take you,'' Kitchen said.
Petr Cajanek scored his first goal of the season eight seconds
into the Blues' first power play and Lee Stempniak added his third
of the season 5:41 into the third period.
Notes: St. Louis D Jay McKee left the game in the first period
with a fractured bone in his right hand and did not return. ...
Blues F Keith Tkachuk assisted on both Blues' goals and has an
assist in four consecutive games. ... The Canucks lost all four
games between the teams during the 2005-06 season in which the Blues
finished with the league's worst record.
