The fact they left the Mile High City with two points bordered on grand larceny.

The Canucks did on Saturday what they have been doing for the better part of a month now — they somehow found a way to win a game they really had no right being in.

Defenceman Kevin Bieksa got a fortuitous bounce off a stanchion and his long, soft shot found its way past Colorado goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere with 35 seconds remaining in the third period to force overtime.

And then came an even bigger surprise: Roberto Luongo and the Canucks won the ensuing shootout against an Avs team that was 7-0 in the penalty-shot competition this season.

To their credit, most of the Canucks and coach Alain Vigneault acknowledged their 3-2 win probably was not a just result

The Canucks were outshot 46-29 and again struggled at both ends of the ice. They were saved by Luongo, who was solid all night and stopped all three Avs shooters in the shootout. Mason Raymond scored the only shootout goal, going five-hole on Giguere.

“In some ways things even themselves out,” Vigneault said. “We played some really good games in the beginning of the year when we were getting okay goaltending, now obviosuly we are not playing so well but we are getting some outstanding goaltending from both our guys.”

Luongo, who has struggled in shootouts, gave a major-league fist-pump when he stopped Ryan O’Reilly to give the Canucks the win. He also put to rest any notion that he struggles in afternoon games.

“I don’t want to hear anything about afternoon games any more, okay guys,” he said with a smile. “That’s the last time.”

Luongo was well aware how good the Avs have been in shootouts.

“It’s a shootout, sometimes you are going to get them, sometimes you are not. Those guys have some pretty good shooters and have a good shootout record. I was able to get a couple breaks and that’s the way she goes. They are nice to win, obviously.”

None of it would have happened without Bieksa. Seconds before he tied the game, Bieksa dove across the ice to knock away TJ Galiardi’s shot that seemed destined for the open Vancouver net with Luongo on the bench for an extra attacker.

“I put my body in front of it because I was afraid it was going to hop,” Bieska said.

His game-tying shot came after a Colorado clearing attempt bounced off a stanchion. Bieska has been blessed by a stanchion before. He got a bounce off one in last summer’s playoffs to eliminate the San Jose Sharks.

“I am nice to the stanchion,” Bieksa said. “I go over every game in the warmup and give it a little love tap with my right shoulder and left shoulder, honest to God. . .I am getting some good bounces off them so I will keep doing what I am doing.”

Bieksa’s shot was hardly a howitzer.

“We had such a good screen in front I didn’t really shoot it hard,” he said. “I just tried to place it somewhere around that corner there. It was by no means a hard shot, but in the right place.”

As good as the Canucks felt about the win, they realize that their indifferent play will soon catch up with them if things don’t improve.

“We’re giving up way too many scoring chances and we have got a couple of guys right now who are struggling five-on-five, not only defensively but offensively,” Vigneault said. “We just have to work with our players and address a few things and keep working at it.”

Among those struggling are Daniel and Henrik Sedin, who for the second straight game were split up in the third period.

“Obviously both those guys have carried our team for so long that we can work with them and help them work their way through this,” Vigneault said of the twins. “They are two of my favourite people in the world and obviously they would tell you that they’re not satisfied with what’s going on right now with their play.”

For the 10th straight game on the road, the Canucks did score first. Ryan Kesler one-timed an Alex Edler pass from the top of the left faceoff circle past Giguere at the 3:31 mark of the first period.

But the Avs took over the game after that and drew even at 9:14 of the first when David Jones converted a beautiful backdoor pass from Paul Stastny on a Colorado power play. The goal came with David Booth off serving a goalie interference penalty.

The Avs had a 18-6 edge in shots in the first period. The second period wasn’t much different.

Colorado took a 2-1 lead after Bieksa coughed up the puck behind his own net. Daniel Winnik fed a pass to Jay McClement, who beat Luongo from the deep slot.

With Chris Higgins left behind in Vancouver with the flu, the Canucks called up Byron Bitz from the Chicago Wolves. Bitz skated on a line with Cody Hodgson and Jannik Hansen and logged 8:32 of ice time.

A foot of snow piled up in the Denver metropolitan area, with up to 2 feet reported in the foothills west of the city, said Frank Cooper, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Boulder, Colorado.

The storm is expected to bring at least 6-12″ to the city, and some locations along the urban corridor could see 10-18″.

The Winter Storm Warning is in effect from 5 p.m. Thursday until 11 p.m. Friday.

Rep. Laura Bradford, R-Collbran, was pulled over last week by an officer who called a supervisor to the scene after noticing the legislative plates on the vehicle, according to The Denver Post. A sobriety test was administered and Bradford was found to be intoxicated, but it had been unclear whether she had invoked legislative immunity as she faced arrest.

Police will announce the new information Tuesday afternoon.

Grand Junction Republican Rep. Laura Bradford was cited Wednesday night with making an illegal lane change and improper turn. Police say an officer smelled alcohol on her breath but they were unable to take her to the police station for a breathalyzer or blood test because of a constitutional provision known as “legislative privilege.” It is aimed at protecting lawmakers’ ability to travel to and from the Capitol to cast votes.

Bradford parked her car and took a cab after the traffic stop. She apologized to lawmakers Monday and denied that she invoked the privilege.

Hancock met with more than 200 CEOs and business leaders during his first 100 days in office and the results of those meetings are reflected in the new strategic plan for the city’s Office of Economic Development (OED).

Paul Washington, executive director of the office, said the OED will release a longer-term economic development strategy in the spring.

The crowd of Denver Protesters marched through downtown for about an hour. Many carried signs and chanted during the march.

The ruling by a three-judge panel of the Denver-based court reverses a district judge’s decision that the Stolen Valor Act violates the First Amendment.

Courts in California, Georgia and Missouri have considered similar cases, and the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco struck down the law on the basis of free speech. The U.S. Supreme Court said in October it would take up the issue of whether the Stolen Valor Act is constitutional.

Taylor Jo Mathis was arrested Wednesday after she went to the Denver Police Department with her attorney and turned herself in, the affidavit said.