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Edler's shootout goal lifts Canucks past DiPietro, Islanders

Jan 9, 2008 - 7:50 AM VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Ticker) -- Rick DiPietro played an excellent game, but a couple of bad goals spoiled his night.

Defenseman Alexander Edler scored the decisive goal in the sixth round of the shootout and Roberto Luongo made 26 saves to lead the Vancouver Canucks to their sixth consecutive home victory, a 3-2 triumph over the New York Islanders on Tuesday.

DiPietro turned aside 43 shots for the Islanders, who have lost four straight games.

It appeared that DiPietro had stopped Edler's attempt in the bonus format, but the shot bounced off his right shoulder and into the net.

"It's just a shot and it went in. Of course, it feels great to be able to help the team and win the game," the 21-year-old Edler said. "I knew what to do, but I didn't know if it was going to work on DiPietro because he's got the glove on the other side, and I've never tried that before."

Luongo then blocked Trent Hunter's opportunity to secure the victory for the Canucks.

"You can sit here and say you'd like to see their different moves, but guys are so talented, they react to what you do," DiPietro said of the 1-on-1 format. "It's kind of an equal playing field."

Vancouver has not lost a contest at General Motors Place in regulation since November 1, going 12-0-2 over that stretch.

After two scoreless rounds in the shootout, Trevor Linden gave the Canucks the advantage with a wrist shot that beat DiPietro low to the glove side. Miroslav Satan, however, answered in the bottom half of the third round with a backhander that sneaked just under Luongo's glove.

Luongo made a spectacular save on rookie Blake Comeau, who tallied in the third period, in the fifth round of the bonus format to keep his club alive. Comeau skated in on the All-Star starter and deked, but Luongo was there to snatch the puck with his glove.

"The guys worked really hard tonight, and that's why it would have been disappointing if we didn't get the two points," Luongo said. "We really played hard tonight and we played a good 60 minutes. I think we deserved the two points."

DiPietro was excellent in the crease for most of the night, making 18 stops in the first period, 12 in the second, 10 in the third and three more in overtime.

The 26-year-old netminder, however, gave up an uncharacteristically bad goal to Daniel Sedin that tied the game at 2-2 just 82 seconds after Comeau gave the Islanders the lead. On the power play, Sedin fluttered a shot between the pads of DiPietro at 4:20 of the third session for his team-leading 20th goal of the season.

"It was a deflection in front and it squeaked through my five-hole," DiPietro said of the tying goal. "It happens. Anytime they tie it up, it's not good. We would have liked to carry that lead into the late stages of the period, but we weren't able to."

The Canucks opened the scoring when Jason Jaffray sent a pass from behind the net to captain Markus Naslund, who snapped a shot past a falling DiPietro to give the Canucks a 1-0 lead at 9:22 of the first.

"It was a storm, for sure," Islanders coach Ted Nolan said of the first period. "They played extremely well in the first period and we didn't. Thank God we have a pretty good goaltender that kept us in the game and gave us a chance to at least get a point out of this game."

The Islanders pulled even at 6:26 of the second period on an unusual play. After it appeared New York would be called for being offside, Matt Cooke seemed to hold up on touching the puck along the right wing boards, allowing Islanders captain Bill Guerin to swoop in and take possession.

Guerin quickly unleashed a shot that managed to get past an unsuspecting Luongo and into the net. The goal, Guerin's 15th of the season, stood despite a lengthy discussion among the officials.

"Sometimes you just get lucky," Guerin said of his goal. "You put the puck on net sometimes and they go in. It was nothing really planned. We needed a break, and we got it. I guess there was a dispute over an offside or if it really went in, but like I said, we needed a break and we got one."

"I saw the ref had his arm up, but I don't really want to use that as an excuse," Luongo said. "It created a little confusion, but at the same time, you've got to stay with the play in case something like that happens."

Comeau gave the Islanders a 2-1 edge at 2:58 of the third with his second career goal. The 21-year-old right wing notched his first NHL tally on December 21.