VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Daniel Sedin scored twice and added an assist to take over the NHL scoring lead and lift the Vancouver Canucks to a 5-2 win over the slumping Dallas Stars on Saturday night.
Sedin opened the scoring on a sharp-angle shot, and added his 32nd goal of the season 7:39 into the third period to give the Canucks a 3-1 lead.
Dallas captain Brenden Morrow cut into the lead with 6:27 left, but Daniel set up twin brother, Henrik, on a three-on-one just over 2 minutes later.
That gave Daniel Sedin 77 points, two more that Tampa Bay's Steven Stamkos for the NHL lead, while Henrik also had two assists to move into third place in the scoring race with 72 points.
Raffi Torres ended a long goal slump early in the second period, and scored again with 3:34 left as the Canucks opened a season-high six-game homestand with a win despite missing five regulars and dressing three rookies on defense. Roberto Luongo finished with 22 saves as Vancouver moved seven points ahead of Detroit atop the Western Conference, four up on Philadelphia atop the NHL.
James Neil also scored and Raycroft made 33 saves for the Stars, who have only one win in nine games to fall into a four-way tie for the final three spots in the Western Conference. Playing without top center Brad Richards (concussion) a third game and missing forward Jamie Benn for 10, Dallas has fallen five points out of the Pacific Division lead they held most of the season.
Raycroft, who spent last season as Luongo's backup in Vancouver, got the start after Stars starter Kari Lehtonen played all three earlier losses to the Canucks — by a combined 15-3 score — this season. The goaltending switch didn't appear to help early as Sedin opened the scoring just 2:46 into the game on a shot from just about the goal line that somehow went in through Raycroft's skates.
Vancouver controlled the opening few minutes, but Morrow dropped the gloves in a spirited fight with Torres a minute later, and the Stars tied it at 4:36 with a long wrist shot by Neil that eluded Luongo through traffic.
The fight seemed to spark the Stars, but it may have helped Torres, too. After Dallas failed to convert a 52-second 5-on-3 advantage midway through the first period, Torres ended a 23-game goal drought by blasting a slap shot over Raycroft's left shoulder from the top of the faceoff circle 6:29 into the second.
After Luongo made a couple of great saves to keep his team ahead, Daniel Sedin beat Raycroft over the same spot after corralling Henrik's long lead pass.
Notes: Daniel Sedin has seven game-winning goals this season, and a franchise-record 51. ... Torres' last goal was on New Year's Eve against the Stars. It's the first time the Canucks have swept a season series against Dallas. Canucks D Dan Hamhuis (concussion) and Keith Ballard (knee sprain) both skated Saturday morning and could return next week.
