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CHICAGO (AP) - The Vancouver Canucks turned a shaky start into a strong finish.
Markus Naslund scored the only shootout goal and lifted the Canucks to a 5-4 comeback victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday night.
The Canucks, who trailed 3-0 after the first period and 4-2 following 40 minutes, finally got even when Brendan Morrison scored with 6:56 left in regulation. Morrison tied it when he ripped a high shot from the slot past Craig Anderson after taking a pass from Matt Cooke for his first goal in 14 games.
"It's a good feeling," Morrison said. "Almost immediately it boosts your confidence. Hopefully it translates into some more goals."
Vancouver used power-play goals by Todd Bertuzzi, Anson Carter and Henrik Sedin to get back into the contest. The injury-depleted Canucks went 3-for-12 with the advantage.
"We were able to get some momentum back with our power play," Morrison said. "Lately it hasn't been that great. It was a big win for us. We needed those points."
Naslund, who led off the shootout, beat Chicago's Craig Anderson by faking a backhand then shooting from the from the forehand.
"Good player, good move," Anderson said.
The Canucks improved to 15-17-2 away from Vancouver and won two games of a three-game road trip.
"Any time you can come back from 3-0 and 4-2, it's great," Naslund said. "It maybe wasn't the best of games, but we stuck with it. Winning two out of three, it's a good road trip."
Vancouver coach Marc Crawford also saluted his team's resiliency, especially considering the Canucks were playing without defensemen Mattias Ohlund, Sami Salo and Ed Jovanovski.
"It was a great comeback win," Crawford said. "We used the end of the first period to recompose ourselves. We showed some good determination and composure and ended up getting three goals on the power play."
Vancouver's Alex Auld made 26 saves in regulation before a perfect shootout performance.
Chicago rookie Rene Bourque scored twice, and Matthew Barnaby and Kyle Calder added goals for Chicago. Bourque has two two-goal games. Anderson made 37 saves.
"We had a good first period and let down in the second," Bourque said. "We kind of came back in the third, but we just took too many penalties and we let them back in the game."
Vancouver's Ryan Kessler was injured midway through the first period after being hooked to the ice by rookie Dustin Byfuglien and hitting the boards. Kessler, who hurt his left knee, was helped from the ice by teammates and the training staff.
Crawford said the injury didn't appear to be serious. Kessler is expected to undergo tests on Saturday.
Bourque opened the scoring 1:33 in when he fired in a rebound from the slot. His power-play deflection at 8:12 made it 2-0.
Barnaby's first goal since Jan. 10 extended Chicago's lead to 3-0 just 26 seconds later. While crashing the net, he punched in a rebound of Jim Vandermeer's shot from the blue line.
The Canucks cut Chicago's lead to 3-2 midway through the second with Bertuzzi's 5-on-3 goal and Carter's man-advantage score.
Bertuzzi, standing in front of the net, made it 3-1 at 9:29 of the second. He took a pass from Naslund, pulled the puck between his legs then tucked a shot through Anderson's pads.
Carter scored from just outside the crease 1:18 later to make it 3-2.
Calder made it a two-goal lead with 13.8 seconds left in the period to complete a 2-on-1 break with Andy Hilbert.
Sedin's power-play goal cut it to 4-3 at 8:57 of the third.
Notes: Bourque has three goals in two games and four in four contests. ... Nikolai Khabibulin, Chicago's top goalie, has resumed practicing but is still out indefinitely. Khabibulin sprained his left knee on Jan. 20 in Minnesota. ... Ohlund missed Friday's game with a rib injury, and Salo sat out with a shoulder strain. Both were injured during the Olympics and have missed three games since the break ended.
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