Visiting Canucks shut out Avalanche

The Vancouver Canucks blanked the Colorado Avalanche 3-0 on Tuesday night, equalling the franchise record of 46 victories and clinching a playoff spot.

Roberto Luongo stopped 34 shots in posting his fifth shutout of the season and 32nd in the NHL.

Moreover, it was Luongo's 44th win this season, moving him to within three wins of Bernie Parent's league record set with the Philadelphia Flyers in 1973-74.

"Roberto has been our MVP," Canucks head coach Alain Vigneault said.

"Luongo is big for their team, and they have a lot of confidence playing a patient game because of him," Avalanche head coach Joel Quenneville said. "He made big saves and he certainly looked big in the net."

Sami Salo snapped a scoreless stalemate 2:14 into the third period before Matt Cooke and Daniel Sedin tallied empty-net goals to silence the crowd of 17,437 at the Pepsi Center.

Skating 5-on-3, Salo took a pass from Henrik Sedin in the high slot and slapped a screen shot past José Théodore for his 13th goal of the season.

"I saw an opening and we had a good screen on the goaltender," Salo said. "We were just lucky enough."

With the victory, the Canucks (46-23-7) regained sole possession of first place in the Northwest Division by a point over the Minnesota Wild, who lost 1-0 to the Calgary Flames in a shootout.

Théodore finished with 26 saves in his first start in over a month for the Avalanche (39-30-7), who trail the Flames by seven points for the the eighth and final playoff berth in the Western Conference.

It was Colorado's first regulation loss in 13 games (10-1-2), dating back to Feb. 27.

"We are not out but, obviously, we need some help," said Avalanche captain Joe Sakic, who was sitting in the penalty box with Ken Klee when Salo scored the winning goal.

"Our margin of error was minimal going into today's game," Quenneville said. "Now it's no room and we, basically, have to win every game going forward."