Die Nacktbar » Nick Bonino, Derek Dorsett

CALGARY - Radim Vrbata continued whats been a seamless fit with Vancouver Canucks linemates Henrik and Daniel Sedin into the regular season.The Czech forward scored the eventual winner for the Canucks in a 4-2 win over the Calgary Flames on Wednesday in the NHL season-opener for both clubs.The Canucks signed the 33-year-old Vrbata in the off-season with the idea the right-winger would be a finisher for the playmaking Sedins. That theory held in the pre-season when Vrbata scored three times and the Sedins combining for five assists on the three.Vrbata batted a pass from Daniel out of the air past Calgary goaltender Jonas Hiller in the second period Wednesday. It was initially waived off as a high stick, but he was given the goal after review. Im glad that a goal helped us to get two points, Vrbata said. I knew that I had a blade high over the bar, probably, but I knew I hit it with the shaft.I know that they said it was close but I was pretty sure it was a good goal.Alex Burrows and Zack Kassian also scored and captain Henrik Sedin added a hard-working empty-netter for the Canucks, who extended their winning streak against Calgary to eight in a row. Henrik was on his behind when he swept the puck into the Flames net. Paul Byron and Jiri Hudler replied for the Flames, who havent won their first game of the season since 2009.The season-opener for both Calgary and Vancouver at Scotiabank Saddledome featured two teams attempting to climb out of the bottom of the league standings. The Canucks finished 25th and the Flames 27th among the 30 teams last season.Their starting goaltenders signed as free agents on July 1 and made their debuts for their respective teams. Ryan Miller stopped 23 of 25 shots for the win, while Jonas Hiller turned away 29 of 32 in his first game in a Flames jersey.I was a little anxious leading up to these games, Miller said. You start somewhere new and want to get off on the right foot.Willie Desjardins won his first regular-season game as Vancouvers head coach. He replaced John Tortorella who was sacked after just one season with the Canucks.I was really happy we got everyone involved tonight, Desjardins said. We got a lot out of a lot of guys.The Flames out-hit the Canucks 32-16 and had the advantage in the face-off circle with 61 per cent won.But Calgary was scoreless on four power-play chances. The Flames had a minute and three seconds of 5-on-3 early in the first period, but couldnt capitalize on the two-man advantage.You dont score on those, you just make your life miserable and especially on a home opener with the fans already on their feet and theyre just waiting to light the barn on fire but we couldnt, Flames head coach Bob Hartley said.Not only did we not score, but after this, I felt we lost the momentum for basically the first 40 minutes. We were not very good in our zone, way too many missed assignments.Vrbatas goal put the hosts up 3-1, but Hudler pulled the host Flames within a goal at 13:19 of the second period when he blasted a drop pass from linemate Sean Monahan past Miller.The Canucks pounced on a Mikael Backlund giveaway along the offensive boards at 5:15 when Kassian finished a passing play from Brad Richardson and Lyndon Vey.Byron temporarily pulled the Flames even on a two-on-one with Johnny Gaudreau at 4:08. Byron opted to keep the puck and freeze Miller, who was beaten under his left pad.Burrows re-directed a Dan Hamhuis shot from the blue-line for a power-play goal at 11:52.The Flames embark on a six-game road trip starting Thursday in Edmonton. The Canucks are at home Saturday to the Oilers.Notes: Flames goaltender Karri Ramo will start in net in Edmonton . . . Brandon Bollig, Mason Raymond and defencemen Raphael Diaz and Deryk Engellend made their Flames debuts, but Devin Setoguchi was a scratch . . . Nick Bonino, Derek Dorsett, Linden Vey, and defenceman Luca Sbisa played their first games for the Canucks . . . Calgary rookie forward Johnny Gaudreau registered a shot on net in his 13 minutes 22 seconds of ice time. Carlos Lee Jersey . The thinking at the time was Clowney could have already been promised he would be selected first overall by the Houston Texans, therefore negating any need to meet with any other teams. The plot took another twist this week. Evan Gattis Jersey . -- Jerel Worthy and his Michigan State teammates charged across the field, holding four fingers in the air while celebrating another sweet victory over their biggest rival. http://www.astrosteamproshop.com/Astros-Craig-Biggio-Kids-Jersey/ .The South African had three birdies on the front nine and another four after the turn at Leopard Creek Country Club to move to 16-under 128 overall.Grace, who won all four of his European Tour titles in 2012, dropped his only shot of the competition on the par-3 fifth. Andy Pettitte Jersey . The win puts Arsenal four points clear of Everton in fourth place with two games to play in the Premier League, a position which would qualify the club for Europes top competition for the 17th straight year. Custom Houston Astros Jerseys . Belfort was originally schedule to fight Chris Weidman at UFC 173 on May 24, but a Nevada State Athletic Commission ban on testosterone replacement therapy forced the former light heavyweight champ to withdraw.The New York Rangers will try to take a commanding 3-0 series lead and push the Montreal Canadiens to the brink of elimination in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Final on Thursday at Madison Square Garden in New York. After erasing a 3-1 series deficit against the Penguins in the second round though, the Rangers know that things can change quickly in a best-of-seven series. Theyre not about to look ahead or become complacent thanks to that experience and the winning pedigree of their veteran leaders. "Plays happen fast; emotional swings happen fast, penalties happen fast and different things do because everything is magnified," Rangers forward Brian Boyle pointed out. "So if you can kind of keep your heart rate at a steady level, I think its beneficial. "But people talk about the whole experience of the playoffs, winning it all or just getting to the finals and we have some people that have been through it. Thats kept everybody on an even keel and trying to work for that next goal and that next win. Thats what we need to continue to do." After being shut out in Games 2 and 3 of that second-round series against Pittsburgh and then mustering just 15 shots in their 4-2 loss in Game 4, the Rangers used that leadership to do some soul-searching and havent lost since. "We got a group in here that no matter what, were gonna play and were gonna play hard," said Boyle, who has four points in the playofffs.dddddddddddd "Thats something that came when things changed after Game 4 in that last series. That feeling stuck with us for two days. Teams have had bad losses, Ive had bad losses but theres nothing quite like that one. But the way weve rallied together through adversity, every guy in this room, its got us to here. But we still got quite a bit of that mountain left to climb." Thats why they plan to be ready for a Montreal team that is in a similar state to what New York was following that demoralizing Game 4 loss to the Penguins. "Im sure theyre going to be motivated and we need to match that," Boyle said. "Theres mistakes we made and we need to correct those and be even better. We need to be ready and be ready for their best. This is the playoffs and you need four wins to win a series and that doesnt come easily." James Murphy is a freelance reporter who also writes for NHL.com, the Boston Herald and XNsports.com. He covered the Boston Bruins/NHL for last 11 seasons writing for ESPNBoston.com, ESPN.com, NHL.com, NESN.com, the Boston Metro, Insidehockey.com and Le Hockey Magazine. Murphy also currently hosts the radio show "Murphys Hockey Law" heard Saturdays 9-11 AM ET on Sirius/XM NHL Network Radio and 4-6 PM ET on Websportsmedia.com. In addition to that, he is a regular guest TSN 690 in Montreal and Sirius/XM NHL Network Radio as well as a hockey analyst on CTV Montreal. ' ' '