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Daniel Sedin scores in OT as Cauncks top Ducks

Feb 21, 2007 - 7:26 AM ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) -- Give Daniel Sedin and the Vancouver Canucks a little extra time and they are virtually unbeatable.

Sedin scored the game-winning goal in overtime and netminder Dany Sabourin made 38 saves for his first career victory to lead the Vancouver Canucks to a 3-2 triumph over the Anaheim Ducks.

The Canucks won their eighth consecutive overtime contest, their fifth straight victory overall and ended a five-game losing streak to the Ducks, who have dropped five of seven.

"It was a good character win for us," Canucks captain Markus Naslund said. "We didn't start out great, but we found a way to get into it. I thought midway through the second, we caught them and we started to take over. We had struggled earlier."

"Give them credit, they battled hard and we lost in overtime on a penalty, 4-on-3," Ducks center Andy McDonald said. "I don't think we played that poorly. We had enough chances to win the game. We just didn't put the puck in the net."

After captain Scott Niedermayer was whistled for hooking in the extra session, defenseman Sami Salo fired a shot off the glass behind the net. The puck bounced directly to Sedin, who easily knocked in the rebound for his 26th goal with 2:41 left.

"Sami took the shot," Sedin said. "It bounced off the glass. I had an open net. It was easy to put in. ... We played a lot better defensively. We didn't give up a lot of chances tonight and that was key."

"I didn't know where the puck was going to go on the shot," Ducks goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere said. "It kind of went wide on the shot. I wasn't sure where the rebound was going to go and it ended up right on his stick. It was a bit of a lucky bounce on their side, but when you shoot the puck toward the net, sometimes the puck is going to end up on your stick and you're going to end up scoring."

Chris Kunitz snapped a 1-1 tie for the Ducks on a power play with just 6.2 seconds remaining in the second period when his centering pass through the crease was redirected by defenseman Willie Mitchell past Sabourin.

"Sometimes the bounces don't go your way," Giguere said. "But I think we battled pretty hard tonight. We worked extremely hard. We got one point. You've got to look at the positive side and that's what it is."

Naslund reached the 20-goal plateau for the eighth consecutive season at 4:06 of the third period by controlling a bouncing puck in front and lifting it past Giguere, tying the score, 2-2.

"It's a good win," Naslund said. "We struggled against Anaheim the first two games this year and we wanted to play a strong game."

Blue-liner Kevin Bieksa scored his first goal in 24 games and Sabourin recorded his first win in seven games this season for Vancouver, which leads the Minnesota Wild by three points in the Northwest Division race.

Tim Brent netted his first career tally and Giguere stopped 28 shots for the Ducks, who slipped to 24-1-3 when leading after two periods.

"It was an unbelievable feeling," Brent said. "I myself didn't see it cross the line, but I looked up and saw the look on (Ryan Shannon's) face and he was pretty happy so I figured it went in. I was real excited to get a second call-up here."

"We accept our work ethic for tonight," Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle said. "Are there areas we can improve? Sure, there is. But we played a pretty good hockey game and we got one point for it. We have to build on the positives."