|
 Twin brothers Daniel and Henrik Sedin finally combined on the
knockout punch that put the Senators on the canvas for good Tuesday
night.
Left winger Daniel Sedin took a rink-wide pass from center Henrik
Sedin and beat Ottawa goaltender Craig Anderson with a sharp-angle
shot with 54 second left in overtime for a 4-3 NHL victory.
The Canucks outshot the Senators 37-24 on the night and controlled
most of the play. But the Senators refused to quit and three times
battled back from being a goal down.
"We had a lot of puck possession and a lot of time in their end,"
said Henrik Sedin.
"Sometimes you overdo things. You try that extra play, or you don't
do the work in front to get that extra goal."
On the winning play, Henrik Sedin gained control of the puck in the
Ottawa end, stepped around a Senator player, then fed his brother a
pass.
 "I thought he was going to pass it earlier," chuckled Daniel Sedin,
who scored his second overtime goal of the season.
"You just have to put it at the net. You have to get it by the first
post and hopefully you get it in."
Ottawa coach Paul MacLean was happy with the single point.
"They had the puck more than we did and did more with it," he said.
"At the same time we defended well enough to get a point."
Defenseman Kevin Bieksa, with his first goal of the season, right
winger Alex Burrows and center Shawn Matthias scored the other
Vancouver goals.
Centre Kyle Turris has a goal and an assist for Ottawa. Right winger
Mike Stone forced the overtime with a goal at 8:42 of the third
period.
Left winger Mike Hoffman also scored for Ottawa.
The win improved Vancouver's record to 12-5-0 for 24 points, giving
them a share of first place overall.
It's been a whirlwind few months for the Canucks. They missed the
playoffs last spring, resulting in the firing of general manager
Mike Gillis and coach John Tortorella.
Former Canuck Trevor Linden was hired as the team president. He
hired Jim Benning as general manager, then Willie Desjardins was
picked as the new coach.
Players like goaltender Ryan Miller and centre Nick Bonino were
added through free agency or trades.
The team's start is better than most people expected but Bieksa said
the season is still young.
"We are happy, obviously," he said. "We wanted to get out of the
gate early with the way the summer went and all the new changes.
"A lot of guys coming in wanted to prove themselves and reprove
themselves. We've got that accomplished so far. We're so early in
the season. We have a lot of hockey left, but we are happy where we
are now."
[to top of second column] |
The win capped a stretch where the Canucks played 15 games in 26
nights. They managed a 10-5-0 record in that span. Vancouver is also
6-0-0 in one-goal games.
Daniel Sedin said one reason for the team's success is Desjardins'
use of four lines.
"The way we feel going into the third (period) it's like you haven't
played 40 minutes of hockey," he said. "You are feeling fresher.
"You can tell the other team is starting to get tired. Mentally that
means a lot to you as a team. It's a good feeling."
Ottawa's record is 7-4-4 for 18 points. The Senators are 3-3-4 in
their last 10 games.
Anderson kept the Senators in the game most of the night but was
angry his team couldn't get the win.
"It's frustrating to lose, especially when we battled so hard to
keep getting it tied," he said.
"It just seemed like they were one shot ahead of us."
NOTES: In honor of Remembrance Day, the Canucks took the warmup
wearing green, camouflage jerseys. ... Vancouver LW Tom Sestito
(lower body), RW Zack Kassian (lower body), RW Radim Vrbata (lower
body), LW Derek Dorsett (upper body) and D Luca Sbisa (undisclosed)
all missed the game due to injuries. ... Vancouver was coming off a
four-game road trip where they defeated Colorado, San Jose and
Anaheim but lost to L.A. ... The Canucks' homestand ends Friday
against Arizona. ... Ottawa G Craig Anderson was named the NHL's
second star for the week ending Nov. 9 after earning a 2-0-1 record
and 0.65 GAA. ... Not dressed for the Senators was D Mark Methot
(back). ... Senators rookie C Curtis Lazar, who grew up in Vernon,
about five hours away from Vancouver, had his parents and about 15
relatives attend the game. ... The Senators continue a three-game
road trip with stops in Edmonton on Thursday and Calgary on
Saturday.
[© 2014 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2014 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
