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Henrik Sedin's OT goal gives Luongo franchise wins record

Mar 10, 2007 - 8:42 AM SAN JOSE, California (Ticker) -- Henrik Sedin may have a free meal in his future.

Sedin scored 3 1/2 minutes into overtime and Roberto Luongo made 25 saves en route to his franchise-record 39th win as the Vancouver Canucks extended their winning streak to five games with a 2-1 triumph over the San Jose Sharks.

Needing one victory to eclipse Kirk McLean's team mark of 38 set in 1991-92, Luongo was locked in a goaltending duel with Evgeni Nabokov for two periods before Taylor Pyatt broke through 66 seconds into the third, giving Vancouver a 1-0 edge.

However, captain Patrick Marleau scored his 30th of the season with just under seven minutes remaining, giving the Sharks a chance at their third straight win.

Neither team was able to snap the tie until 3:30 of overtime, when defenseman Kevin Bieksa sprung Sedin for a breakaway. Nabokov made a sensational blocker save on the first shot, but Sedin stayed with the play and poked the rebound inside the left goalpost for his ninth goal of the season.

"I had time to think, way too much," said Sedin, who ended an eight-game goalless drought. "I wanted to roof it first, but (Nabokov) took that away, so I pulled it back in. I don't know if he stopped it or if it hit the post. I didn't see the puck go in. I had no idea."

"I thought I had it," Nabokov said. "To be honest with you, I have to go back and take a look. I really thought I had it. He must have gotten the rebound or I kicked it in myself."

Luongo, who did not face a shot in overtime, trails New Jersey's Martin Brodeur by one for the league lead in victories. Bernie Parent holds the NHL record for wins in a season with 47, which he set in 1973-74 with Philadelphia.

"Once the season is over, it might be something to look at as a nice achievement," Luongo said. "But at the same time, our main goal is the playoffs and getting ready as much as we can and solidifying our position once playoff time rolls around."

With the triumph, Vancouver (41-22-5) remained four points ahead of second-place Minnesota (38-24-7) in the Northwest Division.

"It was a hard-fought battle," Canucks coach Alain Vigneault said. "I'm really pleased. This was one of our better games of the year, in terms of play at both ends of the rink."

"I'm really happy with the way we're playing right now," Vancouver captain Markus Naslund added. "Anytime you play the top teams in the league, and I consider San Jose one of them, you want to have a good effort. We knew they were ready for us and that they'd shut out two very good opponents. All that being said, I thought we showed up and played a strong game."

Nabokov turned aside 35 shots for the Sharks (40-25-3), who gained a point but fell 10 behind the Anaheim Ducks (41-17-11) in the Pacific. San Jose dropped to 1-4-3 in its last eight home games and 18-12-3 overall at the HP Pavilion.

"At this point, you have to get a point, especially at home," San Jose coach Ron Wilson said. "We need more guys playing with a sense of urgency at home that just doesn't show the way it shows on the road. And it's some of our top guys, too. ... It seems we're much more focused and intense in road games and maybe fearful of losing. We've lost so many games at home, we should be afraid to lose at home."

"We played better tonight than we have in the last couple of home games," Sharks defenseman Kyle McLaren said. "We got a point out of it, but we have to be ready and start winning some games at home. We need to use our crowd and rink as an advantage."

Entering with consecutive shutouts against Dallas and Minnesota, Nabokov was on his way to a third before the Canucks opened the scoring early in the third on their 27th shot of the game. After defenseman Scott Hannan knocked down an attempted pass in the slot, Pyatt grabbed the puck and unleashed a shot that was stopped.

But Pyatt retrieved his own rebound and tucked it past Nabokov near the right post for his 18th goal of the season and a 1-0 advantage. The tally halted Nabokov's shutout streak at 166 minutes, 7 seconds and the Sharks' team-record stretch at 167:16.

"Sometimes those stats don't matter," Nabokov said. "I try not to pay attention to those things because the main thing is a win. But if you have those streaks, you give your team a chance to win, and that's my goal."

"Our goaltending has been solid," McLaren said. "With Vesa (Toskala) being out, Nabby's getting a lot of the load and has played extremely well. We've been winning games because of our goaltending."

Nabokov kept it a one-goal game with a huge save on Matt Cooke with 8 1/2 minutes to go. The stop proved huge as Marleau received a feed from Joe Thornton in the left faceoff circle and fired a wrist shot past Luongo with 6:58 remaining, knotting the game at 1-1.

"It really felt unbelievably like a playoff game," Luongo said. "The type of game it was, very tight, it was a great game to be a part of."