Canucks beat Flames
VANCOUVER (CP) — Jake Virtanen scored his third goal of the pre-season and Anders Nilsson made 28 saves as the Vancouver Canucks defeated the Calgary Flames 3-1 on Thursday night.
Michael Del Zotto and Darren Archibald had the other goals for Vancouver.
Sean Monahan replied for Calgary, which got 27 saves from Mike Smith.
Looking to resurrect his career after being banished to the American Hockey League last season, a leaner Virtanen has impressed since the first day of training camp, looking quicker while also using his 6-foot-1, 215-pound frame at both ends of the ice.
The 21-year-old opened the scoring at 4:52 of the first period Thursday, his fifth point of the exhibition schedule, after taking a nice drop pass from Sam Gagner and snapping a shot five-hole on Smith.
Nilsson, who was signed from the Buffalo Sabres over the summer to back-up Jacob Markstrom, made a nice stop on a Kris Versteeg tip with six minutes left in the period before Virtanen rang a shot off the post on a 2-on-1 rush moments later.
Vancouver, which played two games in China last week against the Los Angeles Kings, was without Henrik and Daniel Sedin, Thomas Vanek, Bo Horvat, Alexander Edler and Markstrom, among others, against the Flames on Thursday.
Calgary, meanwhile, brought most of the club’s NHL regulars, including Monahan, Johnny Gaudreau, Matthew Tkachuk, Mark Giordano and T.J. Brodie.
The Canucks wrap up their exhibition schedule at home against the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday.