Late last night, the Canucks found a way to tie their best-of-seven series with the Ducks at The Pond- pulling out a double overtime 2-1 victory thanks to fourth line energizer Jeff Cowan.

The unlikeliest of heroes Cowan took a tough pass from ultimate warrior Trevor Linden in the corner and fired a quick wrister from a difficult angle down low along the left boards which somehow snuck through Jean-Sebastien Giguere’s right pad along the post trickling in at 27:49 of sudden death to give Vancouver life headed back home.

They also got another splendid goaltending performance from Roberto Luongo. The Quebec native finished with 43 saves including 13 OT stops. His counterpart Giguere didn’t have a bad night in making four more saves but the deciding goal he allowed in an evenly played game was dreadful. There was virtually no room when Cowan fired it but it somehow got past the former 2003 Conn Smythe winner surprising even him along with Anaheim supporters. Though the Canucks had a few fans who made the trip there and cheered. Canadian fans are the best for a reason!

Vancouver captain Markus Naslund and Anaheim fourth liner Travis Moen scored second period goals 4:31 apart. Naslund’s was a nice individual effort while Moen’s was the result of a great play by Teemu Selanne, who was robbed by Luongo on a breakaway. Moen put the rebound home to tie it.

If Selanne had converted any of his several point blank opportunities, this game never would’ve reached OT. Twice, the Anaheim sniper hit posts with Luongo out of position. Once in the third, he had an open side with a backhand from an angle but couldn’t finish it off instead hitting the Vancouver netminder’s best friend. That best friend also prevented Corey Perry’s wrister from putting the Canucks down as well. It was reviewed but replays confirmed that it hit the far post never crossing the goal line.

Here are some quick thoughts:

1.The Canucks played a more aggressive attacking style in this game and forced Giguere to be really good. He finally broke down when Cowan snuck one through.

2.Vancouver was again without top defender Kevin Bieksa (injury) but got Sami Salo back on the blueline.

3.Selanne was outstanding in this one and dangerous almost every shift.

4.Anaheim young trio Perry, Ryan Getzlaf and Dustin Penner had some good shifts in sudden death but couldn’t beat Luongo.

5.The Canucks killed off one Anaheim power play in the first OT with Naslund in the box for a trip. The refs easily could’ve called the Ducks minutes earlier for a similar infraction which is why it was a good thing the game didn’t end there.

6.The elder statesman and ‘94 holdover Linden has been inspirational for his teammates. He’s playing like he did 13 years ago scoring and setting up goals. What a leader!

My three stars:

3rd star- Roberto Luongo (43 saves)

2nd star- Teemu Selanne (assist, seven SOG)

1st star- Jeff Cowan (GW 2nd OT goal)

We’ll have more postgame analysis of today’s games later on. Detroit and San Jose are tied 2-2 in the third period of Game 2 while New Jersey hosts Ottawa tonight at 8 ET/5 PT.