Canucks try to close out series in Dallas  

Vancouver at Dallas 8:00 pm EDT Western Conference quarterfinal Vancouver leads, 3-2

DALLAS (Ticker) -- The Vancouver Canucks haven't been very successful when it comes to closing out playoff series.

The Canucks, who lead the Dallas Stars three-games-to-two in their Western Conference quarterfinal matchup, have lost their last five games when having the opportunity to eliminate an opponent.

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Vancouver will attempt to end that skid when it travels to Dallas on Saturday for Game Six of the best-of-seven series.

The Canucks are seeking their first series victory since besting the St. Louis Blues in the 2003 conference quarterfinals.

Goaltending and penalty killing continue to be the story of this series. Since Game One - a 5-4 Vancouver win in four overtimes - neither team has tallied more than two goals in a game.

Before allowing an overtime goal to Brenden Morrow in Thursday's 1-0 loss, Vancouver's Roberto Luongo had yielded just four tallies over 17 periods in the series. His counterpart Marty Turco has recorded two shutouts in the series.

Coincidentally, the goaltenders have an identical 1.39 goals against average and are No. 1 and No. 2 in shots faced in the playoffs - Luongo with 190 and Turco 178.

Dallas has successfully killed 24 of Vancouver's 25 power-play opportunities in the series. However, the Stars have not done much better with the man advantage, scoring three goals on 29 power plays.

Jere Lehtinen has yet to record a point in the series after leading Dallas with 26 goals during the regular season. Defenseman Sergei Zubov has 51 career playoff assists as a Star and needs one more to pass Neal Broten for second place on the franchise list.

Dallas' overtime win on Thursday ended a six-game postseason overtime losing streak. Dallas is just 2-9 in playoff overtime games since May 1, 2001.

Vancouver defenseman Mattias Ohlund and Dallas' Morrow each have two goals in the series. They are the only players with more than one tally.