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Penalty kill crucial as Canucks stop Oilers

Feb 2, 2007 - 7:43 AM VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Ticker) -- Vancouver Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo does not need much help. But when the All-Star needed some offense, he got it.

The Canucks received goals from five different players and continued their excellent play on the penalty kill as Luongo survived a shaky final three minutes en route to a 5-3 victory over the Edmonton Oilers.

Marc Chouinard, captain Markus Naslund and Jan Bulis scored in the final period for Vancouver, which improved to 12-1-3 in its last 16 games.

"It was a good, hardworking effort," Naslund said. "I didn't think we were as sharp at the end of the game, but overall, we battled hard and I think we deserved the win. It's nice to get goals from a lot of guys and you can't emphasize enough how important these games are."

With a lot of hard hitting, this game was played with playoff intensity. First-place Vancouver moved eight points ahead of its Northwest Division rival.

"It means a lot for them to try and catch up, and we want to put them behind us, so it's a playoff atmosphere and it's going to be like that down to the wire," Naslund said.

"These are huge games," Luongo said. "You know those guys are chasing us and they're pumped up to come in here. So it was important for us to get the win here and not let them feel like they can still come back."

The Canucks, whose last regulation setback came on January 7 against Minnesota, had lost twice in the shootout and once in overtime in their previous four games.

"It was a good game," Edmonton left wing Raffi Torres said. "It was a lot grittier than other games we've played in, especially against Vancouver. I think that's a big reason why they're doing so well right now, they're getting in your face and getting pucks on net, and obviously their goaltender's playing well. It's something we have to pick up on. We came out a little bit flat, and I think it cost us early."

Vancouver, which entered having yielded just one goal while shorthanded in its last seven games, held Edmonton scoreless on seven power-play opportunities in this one.

Defenseman Mattias Ohlund scored his 10th goal of the season 7:11 into the contest for the Canucks and Henrik Sedin doubled the advantage with his fifth tally 8:58 into the second.

Marty Reasoner halved the deficit for Edmonton with an unassisted goal with 8:57 left in the middle session before Chouinard scored on a breakaway 7:27 into the third, putting a backhander under the pads of goaltender Dwayne Roloson, who entered with a shutout and 1.66 goals-against average in three road games against Vancouver this season.

"It was a bobbing thing, and I'm skating around," Chouinard said. "It was a good thing that there was nobody behind me chasing me."

Toby Petersen tallied off a rebound with 2:44 left to cut the Oilers' deficit to 3-2. Just 44 seconds later, Naslund skated down the left side, moved to the inside past the defender and sent a backhander by Roloson.

"We needed to show more desperation at the start of the hockey game, for sure," Edmonton coach Craig MacTavish said. "Why it wasn't there was a mystery. We get back in the game and give ourselves a chance to win, and we just give them two goals in the third period. You're not going to win at this level giving up easy goals in crucial situations."

With Roloson pulled for an extra attacker, Joffrey Lupul banked in a shot off Luongo after taking a feed from behind the net by Reasoner to cut it to 4-3 with 39 seconds left.

"You knew when we gave up the fourth one that we were gonna get the third, but it just compounds the sense of wasted opportunity," MacTavish said.

Edmonton could not get the equalizer, however, as Bulis scored an empty-netter with 18 ticks left to seal the victory.

Luongo and Roloson each stopped 29 shots.