Leading NHL scorer Henrik Sedin has 4 assists, 3 on twin brother Daniel’s hat trick

Henrik Sedin has 4 assists, 3 on brother’s goals

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Henrik Sedin regained the NHL scoring lead with four assists, including three on twin brother Daniel’s hat trick, and the Vancouver Canucks beat the Calgary Flames 7-3 on Saturday night.

Defenseman Kevin Bieksa ended a long offensive drought with two goals, Rick Rypien and Ryan Kesler also scored, and Roberto Luongo made 38 saves as the Canucks ended the regular season by matching a franchise record with 49 wins.

Niklas Hagman had two goals, and Rene Bourque also scored for Calgary, which lost its final four (0-3-1) and missed the playoffs for the first time in six seasons.

Other than building momentum after losing two straight, the only other motivation for the Canucks was Sedin’s attempt to become the first Vancouver player to win the scoring title. Henrik set a franchise record with 112 points, recording two assists two minutes apart in the first period, and two more 20 seconds apart early in the third.

Chants of “MVP, MVP followed Sedin s fourth assist. He will have to wait until Sunday to see if Washington’s Alex Ovechkin, who is three points behind, can catch him on the final day of the regular season.

Rypien was left alone in the slot to open the scoring 3:39 in, and Sedin set up goals by Bieksa and Daniel to make it 3-0. Bieksa was alone in the slot and he scored his first goal since opening night against Calgary, ending a 53-game streak.

Henrik moved a point ahead of Ovechkin — and into a tie with Pavel Bure for the franchise record with 110 points — two minutes later. His cross-ice pass hit Daniel in stride, allowing him to cut behind defenseman Jay Bouwmeester and lift a shot over Miikka Kiprusoff’s glove.

Henrik set up Daniel on a 2-on-1 rush 3:27 into the third period to pass Bure’s record — set in the 1992-93 season — and then made a blind backhand touch pass to set up a goal by his brother on the next shift.

Kiprusoff was pulled after Daniel’s third goal, after stopping 15 of 21 shots, and was replaced by Vesa Toskala. Bieksa beat him with 2:28 left, 28 seconds after a shot went in off Bourque in front of the Canucks net.

Vancouver, outshot 41-29, played without regular defensemen Sami Salo, Shane O’Brien and Aaron Rome, who were hurt in the previous two days. All are expected back for the first round of the playoffs, coach Alain Vigneault said. The Canucks also got back top defenseman Christian Ehrhoff (knee), who missed two games.

Hagman scored twice — on a one-timer from the slot with 6:22 left in the first period and a rebound 3:51 into the second — to pull Calgary within a goal. But Kesler restored the lead just over two minutes later.

NOTES: Daniel Sedin’s four-point night gave him a career-high 85 points despite missing 18 games with a broken foot. … It was the first goal in 33 games for Rypien. … Canucks D Evan Oberg played in his second NHL game after being called up from the AHL when Salo was injured at practice Friday. … Calgary finished with the fewest goals (205) in the Western Conference, and the third lowest total in franchise history. … Canucks RW Michael Grabner was a healthy scratch four games after recording a hat trick in Anaheim.