Canucks rally to secure road win over Blackhawks

CHICAGO (Reuters) - The Vancouver Canucks rallied for a 3-2 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday, scoring two goals in the final eight minutes to secure a first road win of the season.

Mikael Samuelsson notched the game-winner at 15:18 of the third period, just three minutes after Michael Grabner tied the contest with his first NHL goal.

"Everybody knows we hadn't won on the road and it means a lot to this group," Samuelsson told reporters. "We came back from their lead, so that was huge."

Vancouver goaltender Roberto Luongo continued his strong recent form with 18 saves as he and the Canucks (4-5-0) earned a measure of revenge against the Blackhawks, who eliminated them from last season's Western Conference semi-finals.

In the final game of the playoff series, Luongo surrendered seven goals but this time he made several key stops to preserve the win.

"Obviously, nothing's going to bring back what happened last year," Luongo said. "They still won the series, we just won a game. But it's nice to be able to come in here and show we can win and just start moving on."

Duncan Keith gave Chicago an early lead with a slap shot at 13:26 in the first period and Troy Brouwer converted a go-ahead tip-in at 18:51 in the second for the Blackhawks (5-3-1), who have lost two straight after winning four in a row.

Canucks winger Steve Bernier converted a powerplay to tie the score at 1-1 just 46 seconds into the second period for Vancouver, who outshot the home team 31-20.

Chicago netminder Antti Niemi recorded 28 saves in place of injured starter Cristobal Huet and took his first loss of the season.

Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews was leveled by Vancouver defenseman Willie Mitchell in the third period and did not play the final 14 minutes.

(Writing by Jahmal Corner in Los Angeles; Editing by John O'Brien)