Naslund scores twice as Canucks stop Sens

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) -- Markus Naslund can't remember scoring better-looking goals than his first Wednesday night.

Naslund scored his NHL-best 29th and 30th goals of the season on the power play as the Vancouver Canucks beat the Ottawa Senators 6-4.

Naslund, who came into with a one-goal advantage over Ottawa's Marian Hossa, tied the game 1-1 with 5:11 left in the first. He outskated three Senators and beat Patrick Lalime with a perfect wrist shot into the far corner.

"Yeah probably,'' Naslund said when asked if the goal would make his top-10 list. "It was nice to take it coast to coast, it doesn't happen that often anymore.''

Neither does 60 goals in a season, the pace Naslund hit when he added his 30th on a long shot through traffic with 5:38 left in the second, giving him 16 points -- nine goals and seven assists -- in an eight-game point streak.

"I'm happy with the way I've played so far and I just want to keep it going,'' said Naslund, who gave the home fans a scare by leaving for five minutes in the third to get treatment on an ailing back.

"My back cramped up and I just couldn't breath for a little bit,'' he said. "I'll be OK. It might be a minor tear in the muscle, I don't know.''

Marek Malik, Trevor Linden and Jarkko Ruutu also scored and Dan Cloutier stopped 23 shots for the Canucks, who have won three straight and five of six. The win clinched the Western Conference All-Star coaching spot for Marc Crawford.

Ottawa coach Jacques Martin will lead the East All-Stars.

Mike Fischer returned after missing two games with a bruised right knee, and scored twice for Ottawa. Martin Havlat and Steve Martins also scored as the Senators lost in regulation for just the fourth time in 29 games.

It was also the first time in four games since the Senators missed payroll last week that they failed to earn at least a point. After learning Tuesday that the team is reportedly close to filing for bankruptcy protection, Ottawa could have used a break, but they didn't get one from the officials.

Billed as a battle of Canada's top two teams -- and two of the NHL's best and highest scoring -- it didn't take long to turn into a special-teams fight.

"You're not going to win a lot of games when you're short-handed all the time,'' said Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson after the Senators were called for 14 penalties compared to Vancouver's four.

"It's too bad because they're an exciting team, we're an exciting team and it could have been a great game,'' Alfredsson said. "I think both teams were really excited about this game and I think the fans were and they missed out on what could have been a real good game.''

Ottawa jumped to three one-goal leads, but the Canucks, aided by 10 power plays in the opening 40 minutes, answered each time. Vancouver finished 2-for-14 with the man advantage. The Senators, whistled for abuse of officials late in the second, were 1-for-4.

"It's uncharacteristic for them to take that many penalties,'' said former Senators player Sami Salo, who had three assists. It was his first game against Ottawa since being traded just before the season started.

Cloutier was credited with an assist on Naslund's first goal, but allowed Ottawa's short-handed goal less than two minutes later when he misplayed a puck in the corner. It came straight to Fischer, who walked it into an empty net.

Malik got that goal back for the Canucks with 53 seconds left in the period, but Fischer converted a 2-on-1 three minutes into the second.

Linden tied it on a breakaway from the blue line midway through the period, and Naslund made it 4-3 on the power play.

It was the first time in 25 games the Senators gave up more than three goals, the longest streak since the 1955 Montreal Canadiens held the opposition to three or fewer for 25 straight games.

Ruutu, a healthy scratch for 30 of the first 40 games, added insurance 2:31 into the third with his first goal of the season.

When the Senators finally got another power play midway through the period, Cooke scored short-handed to make it 6-3 and end Lalime's night. Lalime gave up six goals on 25 shots and was replaced by recent callup Ray Emery.

Martins scored on a long shot with 1:18 left.

Game notes
Naslund has scored 19 power-play goals, most in the NHL. ... Ottawa is on top of the Eastern Conference with 56 points, but the Senators are just 5-4-1 against the Western Conference. ... Peter Schaefer, who spent last season playing in Finland after a contract dispute, received a four-minute penalty of the first period from the penalty box after cutting former teammate Jarkko Ruutu with a high stick. He was traded to Ottawa for Salo.