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Oilers drop 9th straight, lose to Canucks in OT

Jan 21, 2010 - 6:54 AM EDMONTON, Alberta(AP) -- Two timely power-play goals by the Vancouver Canucks kept the Edmonton Oilers on their longest slide in three years.

Daniel Sedin scored on the power play 1:39 into overtime and assisted on Vancouver's two goals in regulation as the Canucks sent the Oilers to their ninth straight loss, 3-2 on Wednesday night.

Down by a goal late in the third period, the Canucks tied it 2-2 during a 4-on-3 power play. Sami Salo fired a shot from the point that beat goalie Devan Dubnyk with 4:06 remaining to force overtime.

It didn't take long for the Canucks to win it. Henrik Sedin made a perfect pass to his twin brother, Daniel, on the doorstep for an easy tap-in.

"It was great to be able to come back on the road," Daniel Sedin said. "We knew it was going to be a tough game and probably come down to the wire. We were lucky that they took a couple of penalties late in the game that we were able to score on."

Alex Burrows had the other goal for Vancouver, and Henrik Sedin posted three assists. The Canucks have won two straight following a three-game losing streak.

"Five-on-five they played a little bit better than we did in the first two periods, but we came along in the third," Canucks coach Alain Vigneault said. "Obviously our power play was real good and was able to win us the game."

Roberto Luongo made 31 saves in the victory.

"Roberto gave up a couple of rebounds that were uncharacteristic, but when the game was on the line and he needed to make the big saves he did," Vigneault said. "He gave us the opportunity to get to overtime and win it."

Sam Gagner and Sheldon Souray scored for the Oilers, who have one win in 17 games and are in the midst of their worst losing streak since a 12-game skid from Feb. 25-March 21, 2007.

"It's definitely pretty frustrating the way we've been losing games lately," Gagner said. "We had a lot of passion and intensity and played the game the right way. We have to regroup and use our anger the right way and be better."

Oilers coach Pat Quinn said poor penalty-killing did in his club.

"Those guys, they eat those situations up, that four-on-three stuff," he said. "That's their game. We could obviously have done better there, but I guess that's why we are 29th on the penalty kill. We don't do a very good job."

Quinn complained about the overtime tripping call against Denis Grebeshkov, but refrained from making any comments that would earn him a fine from the NHL. Commissioner Gary Bettman was in attendance.

"You want me to get into my kids' inheritance again?" Quinn said. "It's not a good call. There's no penalty, no action that would warrant a call. But I am not wearing the black and white."

The Oilers took a 1-0 lead 9:04 in on the power play as a bad line change by the Canucks allowed Gagner to go in untouched and beat Luongo with a shot to the top corner.

Vancouver responded with a power-play goal with 3:37 left in the first. Daniel Sedin made a beautiful cross-ice pass to Henrik, who fed the puck to Burrows.

Edmonton regained the lead 2:10 into the second. Marc Pouliot, playing in his second game of the season, won a faceoff back to Souray at the point. The defenseman fired a hard shot past Luongo to make it 2-1.

Dubnyk protected the lead seven minutes later during another Canucks power play when he made a kick save to rob Mikael Samuelsson.

Luongo matched him with two minutes left in the period, stretching out deny Andrew Cogliano's backhander.

NOTES: Luongo has started 20 straight games since sitting out against Carolina on Dec. 5. ... Dubnyk made his fifth NHL start. ... The Oilers were without D Steve Staois (concussion) and forwards Gilbert Brule (flu) and Ryan Stone (knee). ... The Canucks were without D Willie Mitchell, who is day to day because of an upper-body injury. ... Vancouver forward Steve Bernier returned to the lineup after missing three games (groin). ... NHL commissioner Gary Bettman was in attendance.