NHL | Vancouver rides 2nd-period burst
CALGARY, Alberta - Byron Ritchie notched his first goal of the season against his former team, Roberto Luongo made 36 saves and the Vancouver Canucks hung on for a 3-2 victory over the Calgary Flames on Thursday night.
Scoreless after the first period, Vancouver took control in the second, scoring three times in less than six minutes.
Brendan Morrison opened the scoring on a power play at 2:32, neatly completing a tic-tac-toe passing play with Henrik and Daniel Sedin.
Ritchie put Vancouver (7-8) ahead 2-0 at 7:58 on a harmless-looking wrist shot from a bad angle that Miikka Kiprusoff mishandled.
Just 16 seconds later, Calgary defenseman David Hale gave the puck away to Trevor Linden in front of the Flames net. Linden then knocked it over to Alex Burrows, who backhanded it into the low corner.
Anders Eriksson and Owen Nolan scored for Calgary (6-7-3), which has lost four in a row.
Lindros retires
LONDON, Ontario - Former MVP Eric Lindros, 34, retired in his hometown, ending a career derailed by a series of concussions and other injuries.
The 6-foot-4, 240-pound power forward had 372 goals, 865 points and 1,398 penalty minutes in 760 games for Philadelphia, Toronto, the New York Rangers and Dallas.
He won the Hart Trophy as league MVP in 1995 and was part of the Canadian Olympic team that won gold in 2002. He also won silver for Canada in 1992.