Vancouver gets better of Chicago

Roberto Luongo made an early lead stand up and the Vancouver Canucks regained home-ice advantage by beating the Chicago Blackhawks, 3-1, on Tuesday night for a 2-1 lead in the Western Conference semifinals.

Burned by the Blackhawks’ speed in the first two games, the Canucks were able to offset it with better puck control and an aggressive physical defense, despite the absence of versatile defenseman Sami Salo, who sat out because of an injury.

“One thing we don’t want to do against this team is play chance-for-chance,” Vancouver Coach Alain Vigneault said.

After surrendering eight goals in the first two games of the series at Vancouver, Luongo finished with 23 saves Tuesday, including a spectacular stop on Dave Bolland when the Blackhawks had a power play early in the third period.