Dube and Flames dump Lind and Canucks, 4-1
Former Rockets face off in preseason action as Calgary beats Vancouver
VANCOUVER — Spencer Foo scored the eventual winner as a young Calgary Flames squad earned a 4-1 victory over the host Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday night.
Matthew Phillips, Andrew Mangiapane and Jusso Valimaki also scored for the Flames, with Dillon Dube setting up the 3-0 shorthanded goal by Mangiapane.
Winger Brendan Leipsic put up the Canucks’ only goal.
Calgary’s David Rittich stopped all 26 of Vancouver’s shots in the first two periods. He was relieved by Tyler Parsons in the third, who stopped 12-of-13 shots.
Vancouver netminder Thatcher Demko held off 18 of the Flames’ 21 shots in the first two frames before Michael DiPietro took over and turned away all 11 of Calgary’s shots in the third period.
Calgary’s roster was filled mainly with young, untested players Wednesday night, as the team’s veterans finished off a series of exhibition games in China.
The Flames sparked the scoring midway through the first period when 20-year-old forward Matthew Phillips got a breakaway pass near centre ice, broke in past Canucks defender Ashton Saunter and fired a fluttering puck past Demko.
Minutes later, the Canucks got caught trying to clear the puck from their own zone. The ensuing battle ended with Calgary’s Foo sneaking a shot past a sprawling Demko.
Mangiapane added to the Flames’ tally in the second, taking a perfect feed from Dube in front of Vancouver’s net and hammering it home.
The Canucks’ lone goal came during 4-on-4 action in the third, when Leipsic stickhandled his way along the boards and through traffic, then popped one in past Parsons.
Valimaki added an empty-netter for the Flames in the game’s dying seconds. The game within the game pitted a pair of former teammates from the WHL’s Kelowna Rockets against each other as Dube got the upper hand on Kole Lind, both on the scoreboard and in a 1-on-1 battle between the two where Dube shoved down Lind. They are both turning pro this season and are expected to start in the AHL — with the Stockton, Calif., Heat and the Utica, N.Y., Comets, respectively — but Dube has been making Calgary’s decision to demote him a difficult one by being the team’s best player throughout the preseason thus far. Dube previously had a hat trick in a 7-4 defeat to Edmonton.
Vancouver has one more exhibition game at home tonight against the Los Angeles Kings. The Canucks will then hit the road for contests in Calgary, Salt Lake City, Edmonton and Kelowna, where they will face the Arizona Coyotes in the preseason finale for both teams on Saturday, Sept. 29 at Prospera Place. Dube