Canucks send the Stars home early

The Vancouver Canucks got past the first round for the second time since 1995.

The Dallas Stars are going home quickly for a third straight season.

Trevor Linden scored the go-ahead goal on a power play seven minutes into the third period to lift the Canucks to a 4-1 Game 7 win Monday, ending the Stars’ attempt to come back from a 3-1 deficit in the series.

Linden, a former Canucks captain playing in his ninth career Game 7 for Vancouver, tipped Mattias Ohlund’s quick point shot through the legs of Stars goalie Marty Turco, the puck barely trickling over the goal line inside the far post.

Bryan Smolinski and Taylor Pyatt had empty-net goals, Henrik Sedin had a goal and an assist, and Roberto Luongo made 19 saves for the Canucks, who will start the second round against the Ducks in Anaheim on Wednesday.

“Yeah, it was a tight series the whole way,” Luongo said. “We worked hard all year and it’s nice to get rewarded like that.”

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Atlanta Thrashers captain Scott Mellanby was expected to announce his retirement today. Mellanby, 40, helped lead the Thrashers to their first playoff berth, but they were eliminated in four games by the New York Rangers.... Red Wings forward Tomas Holmstrom is day-to-day because of an eye injury after Calgary’s Craig Conroy hit him with his stick in Detroit’s series-clinching victory over the Flames on Sunday.