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Vancouver stays hot with win over Edmonton

Mar 20, 2007 - 5:48 AM EDMONTON, Alberta (Ticker) -- Trevor Linden and Daniel Sedin kept a pair of streaks going.

Linden and Sedin each scored a goal in the second period and the Vancouver Canucks picked up two crucial points with a 2-1 victory over the Edmonton Oilers.

With the win, Vancouver (44-23-6) improved to 8-1-1 in its last 10 games and extended its lead in the Northwest Division to three points over the Minnesota Wild.

"Those two points were key because we had one game in hand (on Minnesota) so those points were key for sure tonight," Sedin said.

While Vancouver is streaking toward the postseason, Edmonton is stumbling through one of the worst stretches in franchise history.

Rafi Torres gave the Oilers (30-36-7) a 1-0 lead with a goal in the first period, but that was all they could get past Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo as the defending Western Conference champions saw their losing streak extended to 11 games.

"We don't play with leads too often. I mean this team, the young guys are battling hard," Torres said. "It's frustrating, but all you can do is continue to work. I mean we really aren't that concerned with 11 losses, well it's a concern, but hey were trying."

Edmonton's recent slide ties the franchise record for consecutive losses set from October 16-November 7, 1993.

"The frustration now I think is manageable," Edmonton coach Craig MacTavish said. "We really are focused on game-to-game. I mean it's out there obviously we've gone all these games without getting a win.

"It's obviously in the back of our minds, but that's really where it is, it's in the back of our minds. We're just focused on game-to-game here and I was pretty happy with the way we played."

Linden tied the game with a power-play goal just 1:46 into the middle session. Sedin, who assisted on Linden's tally, gave the Canucks the lead with his 32nd goal of the season just over six minutes later.

"We're really happy with the team's overall play the last 10 games," Sedin said. "They haven't been outplayed every game over the last 10 games. They work hard and they get shots to the net so it was a tough game. We had to work for our two points.

Luongo made 36 saves, including 17 in the second period, to pick up his 42nd win of the season, extending his team record.

"They worked hard for the full 60 minutes, I've got to give them credit," Luongo said. "They're having a tough time, but they plug away and they're not easy to play against by any stretch."

Dwayne Roloson made 36 saves, including 14 in the third period, to give the Oilers a chance but they were not able to solve Luongo.

"It was a great battle between two pretty good goaltenders," MacTavish said. "I thought Roloson made a lot of great saves and Luongo continued to do what he's been doing all year long and played really well, a great goaltending battle."