Schneider, Canucks blank Oilers, 4-0

[April 05, 2013]  VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) -- Cory Schneider made 23 saves and Henrik Sedin had a goal and an assist for Vancouver in a 4-0 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night that moved the Canucks past Minnesota for first in the Northwest Division.

Schneider, making his ninth consecutive start, had to make just 12 saves through 40 minutes, but stopped 11 in the third for his fourth shutout of the season and eighth of his career.

His best was when he got a glove on Taylor Hall's shot when the Oilers' winger was alone in front of the net on a power play with just four minutes to go in the game. About a minute later he rushed out of his net, past the hashmarks, to deny Ales Hemsky a breakaway opportunity.

Sedin set up Kevin Bieksa's first-period goal and then scored in the second to help Vancouver (20-11-6) move back atop the division. Chris Higgins and Zack Kassian scored in the third to help Vancouver snap out of a two-game skid.

Nikolai Khabibulin made 24 saves for Edmonton (16-14-7), which had its five-game winning streak snapped and fell to ninth in the conference, outside the playoff picture.

Bieksa opened the scoring just 16 seconds into a five-on-three Vancouver had with five minutes to go in the first. Jason Garrison's initial shot hit Jeff Petry in the foot, causing the Oilers defenseman to hobble on the ice as Sedin set up Bieksa for a one-timer at the top of the circle. His low shot made it past the right pad of Khabibulin, giving him six goals on the year and his first in 14 games.

Bieksa to his 200th career point in his 455th game, all with the Canucks.

Vancouver had just six power plays in their previous four games. The Canucks have scored three power-play goals in their past 21 games. They finished 1 for 5 in the game, while the Oilers were 0 for 4 with the man advantage.

Sedin and his twin, Daniel, combined to give Vancouver a 2-0 lead at 14:26 of the second period. They worked the puck around off a rush and then Daniel found Henrik at the side of the net, partially behind the goal-line, and the Canucks' captain shot it into the open net.

The Oilers failed to muster much offense after scoring 25 goals in their past five games. Schneider robbed them of their best chance to get on the board when the Canucks took a penalty early in the third and Magnus Paajarvi was set up in front of the net by Jordan Eberle's centering pass.

Higgins made it 3-0 at 6:57, taking a saucer pass from Derek Roy on a two-on-one and beating Khabibulin for his 10th of the year. It was Roy's first point as a Canuck in his first game after being acquired in a trade from Dallas on Tuesday.

Kassian converted a rebound with less than four seconds to play, his sixth of the season, to round-out the scoring.

NOTE: The Oilers' Nick Schultz played his 800th career NHL game Thursday.

[Associated Press]

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.