Vancouver 4, Dallas 1
Mr. Vancouver, the former Canuck captain, Trevor Linden passed up a chance for an easy goal last night. With the score at 3-1 late in the third period, Linden added an assist on Bryan Smolinski’s empty-net goal.
More important, Linden scored the go-ahead goal on a power play seven minutes into the third period to lift Vancouver to a 4-1 Game 7 win on Monday night, ending the Dallas Stars attempt to come back from a 3-1 deficit in the best-of-seven series. “As usual I was so nervous right up until the puck drops, just literally sick,” said Linden. A former Canucks captain playing in his ninth Game 7 for Vancouver, Linden tipped Mattias Ohlund’s quick point shot through the legs of Stars goalie Marty Turco, the puck barely trickling over the goal line inside the far post. It was his 34th playoff goal in his career, tying Pavel Bure’s franchise record. He also leads active players with 12 points in Game 7s.
Actually, the Canucks didn’t look really good until the puck dropped on the second period. After being shut out by Marty Turco for two straight games as Dallas climbed back from a 3-1 series deficit, the Canucks were down again after Joel Lundqvist scored late in the first, but battled back in the final 40 minutes. Henrik Sedin finally ended Turco’s shutout streak on the power play with 4:48 left in the second. Taylor Pyatt also added an empty-net goal, and Roberto Luongo made 19 saves for the Canucks, who start the second round in Anaheim on Wednesday.
Luongo took over from there. He’d only seen one shot in the third period, just five since the end of the first, when Linden scored. But he robbed Stu Barnes from the slot with his glove three minutes later and got two breaks late. Only Lundqvist beat Luongo, scoring with 3:38 left in the first period after winning a one-on-one rush with Kevin Bieksa by using him as a screen and snapping a 35-foot wrist shot past Luongo’s glove and in off the top of the post. 
After shutting out the Canucks in Games 5 and 6, Turco started strong in Game 7. He made four fantastic saves to kill off a 5-on-3 Canucks power play early in the second before Sedin finally beat him on another power play with 4:48 left in the period, ending his career-best shutout streak at 165:45. Turco finished with 28 saves and Mike Modano sent a shot off the post and crossbar with four minutes left as the Stars, forced to play Game 7 without top defenseman Sergei Zubov, exited the playoffs in the first round for a third straight season.
“I’m going to see that for a while this summer and for the next little while, picture that puck a couple of inches away,” Modano said.
