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Morrison's goals lift Canucks over Red Wings

Nov 23, 2006 - 3:44 AM DETROIT (Ticker) -- Brendan Morrison scored the game-tying goal early in the third period and tallied the game-winner in overtime to lift the Vancouver Canucks to a 4-3 triumph over the Detroit Red Wings.

The victory was the third straight for Vancouver, which continues it three-game road trip at Nashville on Thursday.

"It's a huge character builder," Vancouver center Ryan Kesler. "This team never gives up. You saw it early in the third. We kept going at it and chipping away at their D. We turned it around and won it in overtime."

Morrison tied the game at 3-3 on the power play 7:23 into the third period when he took a pass from Mattias Ohlund and snapped the puck into an open net after Red Wings goaltender Dominik Hasek slipped.

"I'm really happy for Brendan," Vancouver coach Alain Vigneault said of Morrison, who only had four goals in his first 21 games. "Things haven't gone the way he would have wanted it to go. He (has) stayed focused. By his hard work, he was able to give us two huge goals tonight."

"I tripped when they scored the third goal," said Hasek, whose 1.92 goal-against average led the league entering the contest.

Morrison netted the game-winner at 3:01 of the extra stanza when he took a breakaway pass from Sami Salo and beat Hasek between the pads.

Ryan Kesler and Markus Naslund also scored for Vancouver, which got 27 saves from netminder Roberto Luongo.

"It was awesome," said Kesler - a Detroit native - said of scoring in his hometown. "It is something you dream about. I thought I played pretty good tonight. I felt ready to go, focused. I think I should have had a hat trick tonight, but they're going to start coming."

Naslund sliced Detroit's lead to 3-2 at 4:50 of the second period when he banged in a rebound past Hasek.

"We got a great forecheck going and I had a chance to get a shot on net, and Naslund put it upstairs," Vancouver center Henrik Sedin, who assisted on the goal. "It was a goal-scorer's goal."

Mathieu Schneider, Nicklas Lidstrom and Daniel Cleary scored for the Red Wings while Hasek recorded 26 stops.

Cleary has four goals and four assists in a seven-game scoring streak for the Red Wings, who lost for the second time in nine contests.