VANCOUVER – Daniel Sedin helped keep the Vancouver Canucks playoff hopes alive with a third-period goal to give his team a 2-1 win over the Calgary Flames in Game 5 of their NHL playoff series.
The Flames now lead their best-of-seven series three games to two.
The Canucks bounced back from an early goal by David Jones to take the series back to the Scotiabank Saddledome Saturday night.
“Even after we got the lead, they came out flying,” said Flames forward Sam Bennett. “They looked like they wanted it more than us tonight. We’ll just have to regroup and refocus tomorrow.”
READ MORE: No sense of panic as Flames head back to Calgary for Game 6
Jones opened the scoring less than three minutes into the game, beating Canucks goaltender Ryan Miller off a turnover by defenceman Alex Edler.
WATCH: David Jones’ goal
After a Ronalds Kenins high stick, Flames defenceman Dennis Wideman hit the post on the power play and T.J. Brodie narrowly missed the net seconds later.
Bennett nearly gave the Flames a two-goal lead, hounding Dan Hamhuis to give up the puck and forcing Miller to make a pad save.
READ MORE: Sedins’ experience a key in Canucks Game 5 win over Flames
Radim Vrbata had the Canucks’ best scoring chance late on the power play, but was robbed by Flames netminder Jonas Hiller, who stopped all 17 shots he faced in the opening period.
The Canucks outshot the Flames 17-8 in the second period and were finally rewarded with a goal when Nick Bonino wired the puck into the top corner at 13:31 of the middle stanza.
WATCH: Bonino’s goal
The Canucks broke the tie at 1:47 into the third after the Flames iced the puck. Vancouver put out its top line for the offensive zone faceoff and made Calgary pay as Daniel Sedin shovelled home a Dan Hamhuis rebound through Hiller’s pads for his second goal of the series.
WATCH: Daniel Sedin’s goal
Vancouver had to kill off a Calgary power play midway through the period when Hamhuis was whistled for firing the puck over the glass, including a big stop from Miller on Joe Colborne from the slot.
The Flames had another man advantage with under six minutes to go when Henrik Sedin went off for hooking, but didn’t get a single shot on target against Miller, who was making his first start of the series after replacing Eddie Lack in Game 4.
The Flames hope to bounce back and close out the series on Saturday.
Flames head coach Bob Hartley took solace in the play of goaltender Hiller.
“As a veteran, he understands the importance of big games,” said Hartley. “He’s dialled in right now. His focus is great. He’s tracking pucks and he’s giving us a chance to win games.”
WATCH: Postgame comments from the Canucks and Flames head coaches
-with files from Canadian Press
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