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Ebbett's two goals lead Canucks past Oilers

Dec 27, 2011 - 6:54 AM Vancouver, BC (Sports Network) - Andrew Ebbett had two goals as the Vancouver Canucks took a 5-3 win over the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Arena.

Alexandre Burrows and Ryan Kesler had a goal and an assist for the Canucks, who have won four of their last five. Roberto Luongo made 18 saves.

"It was a tough game out there against a tough opponent," said Vancouver head coach Alain Vigneault. "Every night is a challenge out there and you're not going to get many easy wins."

Corey Potter and Jordan Eberle each had a goal and a helper for the Oilers, who have dropped five of their past six games. Nikolai Khabibulin gave up five goals on 26 shots in the loss.

A three-goal first period is what propelled Vancouver to victory on Monday.

The first goal came just 3:11 in as a shot from the left circle by Christopher Higgins hit off of Andrew Ebbett and went in.

Just over five minutes later, it was a 2-0 game as a backhand pass from Henrik Sedin at the right circle went over to the left circle where his brother chipped it in.

On a rush play, Jannik Hansen sent a pass from the right wing to the center, where Ebbett was able to get his stick on it for the redirect and a 3-0 lead with 3:09 to play in the first.

"It's tough to come back when you dig yourself as big a hole as we did," said Edmonton head coach Tom Renney. "In this building against this team, you're not going to get many come-from-behind wins."

At the 8:28 mark of the second period, Vancouver forward Dale Weise received a boarding major and was ejected when he nailed Edmonton defenseman Alex Plante into the glass. Plante laid on the ice for several minutes before heading off the ice with a towel covering a cut over his face and he did not return.

"I hope he's ok because I never want to see a guy go off like that," said Weise. "I'll get in touch with him and see how he's doing. Things happen so fast and I thought I caught him on the shoulder and he wound up going in a vulnerable position. I respect the call."

Eberle got his team on the board at the 10:50 mark of the second on the power play when he chipped in a rebound from the left side, but Burrows answered on a give-and-go with Kesler that saw him tap-in a centering feed for the shorthanded goal.

Ryan Smyth made it a 4-2 game 42 seconds later on the same power play with his 14th goal of the year.

Kesler's tip-in of a Burrows feed 3:14 into the third gave the Canucks a 5-2 lead, while Potter scored his third of the year less than two minutes later.

Edmonton was unable to get any closer the rest of the way.

Game Notes

Vancouver hits the road for three games in California starting in San Jose on Wednesday...Edmonton continues its seven-game trek in Minnesota on Thursday...Vancouver has won two of three from Edmonton this season...Edmonton was 2-for-7 on the power play while Vancouver was 0-for-4.