THE BUZZ: A rare Canucks appearance in Philadelphia, their first showing since 2005, saw the visitors escape with a 3-0 win Thursday over the Flyers, giving Vancouver their sixth victory in their past eight games.
NET NUMBERS: With Steve Yzerman in the building, Roberto Luongo put on a strong 38-save performance, including several big stops in the third, to earn his 22nd shutout as a Canuck and second this season. Meanwhile, Brian Boucher stopped 26 of 29 shots to drop to 2-4 on the season.
OPENER: It took a Willie Mitchell backhander in the second to finally snap a scoreless draw, as the defenceman tallied his third of the season and his first since October 11. Alex Burrows' doubled the lead under four minutes later when a Daniel Sedin shot deflected off his hips, giving the winger his fourth goal in five games.
BIG POINTS: With Henrik Sedin adding two assists on the night, the top line has now combined for 20 points in the past five games.
SPECIAL TEAMS: Despite Vancouver and Philadelphia having the second and fourth best powerplays in the league heading into the game, both teams failed to convert on the nine combined man-advantages. The Canucks went 0-for-4 while the Flyers were 0-for-5.
LINE SHUFFLE: Meanwhile, Alain Vigneault swapped a couple of his forwards Thursday, moving Jannik Hansen to the second line with Ryan Kesler and Mason Raymond, while putting Mikael Samuelsson with Steve Bernier and Kyle Wellwood on the third trio.
UP NEXT: The Canucks will look to continue their perfect record against the East this season when they head to Carolina Saturday for an early afternoon game against the league-worst Hurricanes.
