Maxim Lapierre scored on a carom off the back boards with 15:25 to play, Roberto Luongo stopped 31 shots in a stirring shutout after getting pulled from his last game, and the Canucks moved to the brink of their first NHL championship with a 1-0 victory over Boston in Game 5 on Friday night, taking a 3-2 series lead.

The Boston Bruins knot the Stanley Cup finals at two games apiece after routing the Vancouver Canucks for a second straight game.

BOSTON – The Boston Bruins gingerly tapped their sticks on the ice while medical personnel wheeled Nathan Horton out of the hushed arena through the Zamboni tunnel, his neck fixed in a brace after a late hit to the head from Vancouver’s Aaron Rome. Horton’s teammates needed a few minutes to clear their minds after such a frightening injury. When they finally got their heads together, they created an offensive avalanche that got them right back in this series.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – When Daniel and Henrik Sedin streak down the ice, exchanging crisp passes in a display of their jaw-dropping offensive creativity, it’s easy to forget the Vancouver Canucks were the NHL’s best defensive team this season. When Boston’s top line presses the attack, changes styles on the fly and comes up with yet another clutch postseason goal, it’s tough to remember the Bruins are nearly as stingy on defense as the Canucks.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Through 591/2 scoreless minutes in their Stanley Cup finals opener, the high-flying Canucks were profoundly frustrated. The superstar Sedin twins couldn’t get around Boston’s formidable defense, and Vancouver’s vaunted power play was punchless. Raffi Torres and Jannik Hansen still had one last trick to try – and Vancouver’s third-line wings only needed an instant to connect on a goal that gave the Canucks an early edge in their chase for their first Stanley Cup title.

NHL: Sami Salo scored twice and Ryan Kesler added a goal as the visiting Vancouver Canucks capitalized on three two-man advantages in the second period to beat the San Jose Sharks 4-2 Sunday in Game 4 of the Western Conference finals to take a 3-1 series lead. The Canucks scored the three goals in a span of 1:55, needing only 37 seconds on the three 5-on-3 situations to beat Antti Niemi three times.

NHL: In Vancouver, British Columbia, defenseman Kevin Bieksa tied it 7:02 into the third period, Henrik Sedin scored on a power play 1:19 later, and the Vancouver Canucks rallied to open their first Western Conference final in 17 years with a 3-2 victory over the No. 2 seeded San Jose Sharks on Sunday night. Maxim Lapierre scored his first of these playoffs, and Roberto Luongo made 27 saves – and a brutal first period giveaway – for the Canucks. Game 2 is Wednesday night in Vancouver.

Serious backpackers nod knowingly when you mention the West Coast Trail. Either they’ve done the rugged 45-mile hike along the southwest coast of Vancouver Island, or it’s on their must-do list.

If Lindsey Vonn wins a gold, silver or bronze during the Winter Olympics, the U.S. skier will be wearing metal recycled from old computers and cell phones around her neck. More than 6,000 pounds of metal went into the medallions that will be awarded to top athletes during the 2010 Vancouver Olympic and Paralympic games. The metals were provided by Teck Resources Ltd., Canada’s largest base-metals supplier. Some of the gold, silver and copper came from discarded electronics.

Sean Halsted, of Rathdrum, will compete on an international stage this winter as a member of the U.S. Ski Team. Halsted, an adaptive cross-country skier, is training for the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games in Vancouver, B.C. The 39-year-old father of three has come a long way since the accident 11 years ago that paralyzed him from the waist down. During a U.S. Air Force training exercise in 1998, he fell 40 feet from a hovering helicopter and shattered his L1 vertebra.