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Naslund, Morrison score in shootout to lift Canucks

Oct 28, 2006 - 5:10 AM VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Ticker) -- The Vancouver Canucks dominated the Washington Capitals for most of the game, but had to rely on shootout goals to finally get a victory.

Markus Naslund and Brendan Morrison scored in the shootout as the Canucks posted a 3-2 victory over the Capitals.

Jan Bulis and Taylor Pyatt scored the other goals for Vancouver, which held a 44-21 advantage in shots.

Naslund beat Washington goaltender Olaf Kolzig on the backhand and Morrison clinched the triumph when his backhand barely squeezed through the netminder's legs and across the goal line.

Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo stopped all three shots he faced in the shootout, including Alexander Ovechkin, who hit the goalpost.

"In the shootout, I didn't score," Ovechkin said. "That's okay. We got one point. We played very well in the second period. We tried to concentrate our game. We played more physical, more aggressive, and we scored some goals." "I didn't know where it was at first, but luckily, it went out of there," Luongo said. "I just took the net away from him and he got nothing but post."

Trailing 2-0, the Capitals scored twice in a 1:33 span of the second period to tie the game.

Ovechkin set up Dainius Zubrus' goal on a 5-on-3 power play at 16:49, cutting the Washington deficit to 2-1. Ovechkin tied the game moments later, redirecting Brian Sutherby's pass by Luongo.

"We got a couple of penalties in the second that took the momentum a little bit away," Canucks coach Alain Vigneault said. "We should've won it before the shootout, but you know people got to buy more hot dogs, the ownership (is) happy, and we got to see a shootout, so why not?"

Bulis and Pyatt scored just over two minutes apart in a dominating first period, giving Vancouver a 2-0 lead. The Canucks held a 16-1 advantage in shots over the first 20 minutes.

"I was really pleased with the way we came out," Vigneault said. "There's a perception that the first game back from a long road trip is always tough, but I thought the guys prepared themselves to compete."

Kolzig finished with 42 saves for the Capitals, who went 1-for-4 on the power play.

Luongo stopped 19 shots for Vancouver, which had a 44-21 edge in shots on goal and was 1-for-7 with the extra skater.