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Garon outlasts Luongo as Oilers beat Canucks in shootout

Nov 15, 2007 - 7:01 AM VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Ticker) -- For Mathieu Garon, blocking all the shots in regulation was just not enough Wednesday. He also had to turn aside all the shots in overtime and the shootout as well.

Garon made 29 saves before denying three attempts in the shootout and Ales Hemsky scored the lone goal in the bonus format as the Edmonton Oilers edged the Vancouver Canucks, 1-0.

It was just the second time this season a game went to the shootout in a scoreless tie. The Boston Bruins topped the New York Rangers on October 20 in that fashion.

With each of the first five shooters of the shootout denied, Hemsky beat Roberto Luongo with a backhander to clinch the win. Hemsky is 3-for-5 this season in shootouts and has nine tallies for his career in the bonus format.

"I just decided when I went how I wanted to take the shot," Hemsky said. "You've just got to get it up and pick the corner, and I did it. It went right in."

Garon stopped Byron Ritchie with the right pad, poke-checked Brendan Morrison's attempt and blocked Ryan Kesler's backhand shot in the shootout to set the stage for Hemsky's heroics.

"I think I felt good in the shootout, but I knew I couldn't let their guys score a goal because it could have been won by Roberto on the other side," Garon said.

By making 16 saves in the first period, seven in the second, four in the third and two in overtime, Garon posted his first shutout of the season and 11th career. His last blanking came on January 3 against the Columbus Blue Jackets when he played for the Los Angeles Kings.

"When you play against good goalies like Roberto, you don't want to give up goals," Garon said.

Garon's performance overshadowed Luongo's first shutout of the campaign and 33rd career. Vancouver's netminder turned aside five shots in each of the first two sessions, eight in the third and one in overtime before denying rookie Sam Gagner and Raffi Torres in the shootout.

"We worked hard, just the puck wasn't going in," Luongo said. "We hit a couple of posts, the puck was bouncing out, but the effort was definitely there. That's not a question at all."

The game was scoreless after 20 minutes despite the fact both teams generated several chances in a period largely dominated by the Canucks, who outshot the Oilers, 16-5.

"We had a lot of chances," Oilers coach Craig MacTavish said. "I was happy with the way we played through. The first period, I thought we were feeling our way into the game a little, but other than that, I was happy with the way we played the game."

Edmonton came within inches of getting on the scoreboard 30 seconds into the contest, when defenseman Dick Tarnstrom one-timed a pass from Hemsky off the goalpost.

The Canucks, who had a three-game winning streak snapped, had an opportunity two minutes later as Morrison led a 2-on-1 rush and opted to shoot, striking the post on Garon's stick side.

"You can't take anything away from (Garon), he played a good game," Kesler said. "He got a shutout, so you can't take that away from him. We had a couple of opportunities there where we just had some bad luck, and that's just how the game went."

Willie Mitchell saved a goal midway through the first period for the Canucks. After Hemsky's blast from the point trickled between the pads of Luongo, the seven-year defenseman swiped the puck out of the crease just before it crossed the goal line.

After a second period that territorially was dominated by the Canucks, the third session was highlighted by Luongo's glove save on Shawn Horcoff less than five minutes in. On a delayed penalty, Horcoff tried to flip the puck over the sprawling netminder, but Luongo snatched it out of the air.

Luongo made one of his most impressive saves in overtime, gloving Andrew Cogliano's wrist shot from the right faceoff circle midway through the session.

Garon also made a great stop in overtime, denying Kesler in the final minute after the 23-year-old center deked a defender right in front of the net.

"Two goaltenders on top of their game, and two teams really working very hard out there," Canucks coach Alain Vigneault said. "It was a hard-fought game from both sides, I thought. Give them a lot of credit, they did a good job of blocking it and making us miss the net because they were getting into shooting lanes.

"I do think we outchanced them today, we just weren't able to put the puck in the net. Our overall process of the game was very solid at both ends of the rink, but we just weren't capable of finishing tonight."