CALGARY – Back at the scene of the grime, the Vancouver Canucks returned to the site of their playoff mess in April and thumped the Calgary Flames 5-1 Wednesday to open their 45th National Hockey League season.
They are at least 97 games away from their first Stanley Cup.
Wednesday was a good start.
The Canucks outplayed and outshot the Flames and won going away. They built an early two-goal lead and were seldom under sustained pressure because they moved the puck quickly and safely from their own zone, defusing the Calgary forecheck. And the best forwards in the game, as they’ve been so often the last decade, were Daniel and Henrik Sedin.