Canucks beat Rangers; remain hot at home

Roberto Luongo stopped 28 shots for his sixth shutout of the season Thursday and the Vancouver Canucks beat the New York Rangers 3-0.

Even though the Rangers outshot Vancouver 28-19, the Canucks extended their home points streak to 13 games with the victory, having allowed just 11 goals at home since Nov. 9.

Ryan Kesler gave Vancouver its lead early in the second period on a goal that Rangers netminder Steve Valiquette, getting a rare start in place of Henrik Lundqvist, would probably like back.

Kesler's clearing pass from the corner of the rink went off his right foot and into the net.

The goal was the 10th of the season for Kesler, who drew the assignment of keeping the Rangers' top line of Scott Gomez, Jaromir Jagr and Martin Straka in check.

Gomez and Jagr came into the game as two of the hottest players in the NHL. Gomez was riding a 13-game point streak while Jagr had had at least one point in his last eight games.

Both of those streaks came to a halt thanks to Kesler and linemates Alex Burrows and Byron Ritchie.

The Rangers' best chance to pull even came midway through the second period when Kesler got a double minor for high-sticking New York defenseman Dan Girardi. Kesler clipped Girardi under the left eye as he tried to jump past him on a one-on-one.

The Rangers managed to get a couple of shots on Luongo on the ensuing power play but only one scoring opportunity of any quality.

Daniel Sedin made it a 2-0 game with three minutes to play, registering his 19th of the season and extending his goal scoring streak to four games. Jason Jaffray's second of the season finished the scoring.

Notes: Canucks D Mattias Ohlund missed his fifth straight game. Ohlund was originally diagnosed with neck spasms but the Canucks now believe he has a concussion. He is listed as day-to-day ... RW Brendan Shanahan missed his first game of the season with a stiff neck. Shanahan has 15 goals and 15 assists in 40 games. ... LW Petr Prucha returned to the New York lineup after missing two games with a bruised wrist ... Valiquette got his eighth start of the season after Lundqvist lost in Calgary on Wednesday ... Thursday's game was the first for the Rangers at GM Place since Nov. 19, 2002. Not a single player from that Rangers' team was in the lineup Thursday. The Rangers haven't won in Vancouver since October of 1997.

(This version corrects Luongo's saves to 28.)