Joni Ortio records first NHL shutout as Flames down Canucks 1-0

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Joni Ortio made 36 saves for his first NHL shutout, leading the Calgary Flames past the Vancouver Canucks 1-0 on Saturday night.

Mikael Backlund scored in the first period for Calgary and Ortio made it stand in his first start of the season to help the Flames snap a three-game losing streak.

The 23-year-old Finn was recalled from the AHL's Adirondack Flames this week after Karri Ramo went down with an upper-body injury and came in having played just nine NHL games before Saturday.

The Flames came in having lost nine straight against Vancouver (0-6-3), and hadn't beaten the Canucks since a 4-2 victory on March 3, 2013, at the Scotiabank Saddledome.

Eddie Lack stopped 22 shots for Vancouver, which has dropped two straight after going 5-1-1 in its previous seven outings.

Lack, who came in with a 3-0-0 career record against Calgary, got the start ahead of No. 1 goalie Ryan Miller, who wasn't feeling well but sat on Vancouver's bench as the backup.

Still trailing 1-0 after giving up a goal early in the first and in possession of a 28-14 shot edge through two periods, the Canucks came out hard in the third, but Ortio was there when he had to be after Vancouver hit three posts in the game's first 40 minutes.

Vancouver continued to press late, but Calgary hung on late despite playing its second game in as many nights.

Ortio improved to 5-4-0 in his brief NHL career — including a 2-1 loss in Vancouver during which he faced just 14 shots — but had the Canucks' number in this one.

Daniel Sedin hit the Canucks' second post of the night on a short-handed 2-on-1 rush 1:30 into the second period before Jannik Hansen rang another shot off the crossbar a few minutes later.

Lack then had to be sharp after a puck in front of the Vancouver goal pinballed to Calgary's Brandon Bollig, who fired a quick shot on target.

The Canucks thought they had tied the game with under five minutes to go, but the goal was waved off when Henrik Sedin was judged to have batted the puck in with a high stick. After his brother Daniel was stopped by Ortio in close, the puck popped up in the air and the Vancouver captain tapped the puck in while it was still above the crossbar.

The Flames didn't have much of the puck in the first period, but grabbed a 1-0 lead at 5:38 on their first shot of the game when Backlund chipped a cross-crease feed from David Jones past Lack for his fourth of the season.