THE BUZZ: Although it was only a preseason matchup, Saturday night's tilt between the Canucks and Flames in Calgary was yet another hard-hitting classic. In what some might call a preview to their season-opening meeting next Thursday, the road team came out on top, winning 2-1 in a shootout.
GOALIE DUEL: Both goaltenders put on a clinic, as Vancouver's Roberto Luongo and Calgary's Miikka Kiprusoff stymied shooters at both ends of the rink all night long. Luongo finished the game with 24 saves on 25 shots, while Kiprusoff stopped 35 of 36.
SO WINNER: After the first four shooters from both teams missed in the shootout, Mason Raymond scored in the fifth round to give the Canucks their third SO win of the preseason.
ICE BREAKER: David Moss got the first goal of the game just over seven minutes into the second period after crashing the crease and putting a Craig Conroy feed past Luongo. It was the Calgary forward's second tally of the preseason.
EQUALIZER: The Canucks got their first of the game under eight minutes later from Mikael Samuelsson, who fired a slapper from the point that found it's way between Kiprusoff's pads. The Swede also recorded six shots on net.
OPENING TILT: Darcy Hordichuk and Brandon Prust decided to set the tone early by dropping the gloves just five seconds into the game. Four minutes later, Adam Pardy and Tanner Glass got into a fight of their own, right after a big hit by Vancouver defenceman Aaron Rome.
ROOKIE WATCH: Sergei Shirokov got the upperhand on Cody Hodgson Saturday in terms of production as the Russian recorded one assist and was a plus one. Hodgson, on the other hand, was quiet for most of the night, going a minus one in 8:51 of ice time. As for Michael Grabner, he got four shots on net and no points.
UP NEXT: Vancouver (7-0-1) will finally end their nine-game preseason schedule Sunday as they visit the Edmonton Oilers.
