Vancouver Canucks' penalty killing and power play lead the way in 4-2 victory over San Jose

Vancouver Canucks can thank their special teams and goalie Roberto Luongo for winning Game 4 of the Western Conference final in San Jose.

Luongo stopped 33 of 35 shots in a 4-2 victory. Shark goalie Antti Niemi faced only 13 shots, but four of them wound up in the net.

The Canucks were outshot 17-3 in the third period.

This gives Vancouver a 3-1 series lead. Coach Alain Vigneault quipped in the post-game news conference: "Aren't you going to ask about my goalie?"

The Canucks did an amazing job killing five penalties in the first 24:06 of the game.

When the Sharks started taking penalties later in the second period, the Canuck power-play responded with three unanswered goals. All three came with two Sharks in the box.

Ryan Kesler scored the first at 9:16, followed by two goals by Sami Salo at 10:55 and 11:15.


Sami Salo makes it 3-0 with two Sharks in the penalty box.

In the third period, Alex Burrows made it 4-0. Henrik Sedin assisted on all four goals; brother Daniel had three assists.

The Sharks made it competitive later in the period on goals by Andrew Desjardins and Ryan Clowe.

But it wasn't enough, setting the stage for the Canucks to win the series at home on Tuesday (May 24).

San Jose captain Joe Thornton left the game after being hit by Raffi Torres. Another San Jose star, Dany Heatley, only had one shot on goal.

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