Tanev's OT goal lifts Canucks past Oilers

Christopher Tanev picked a great time to notch the first goal of his NHL career.

Tanev scored with just 19.3 seconds remaining in overtime as the Vancouver Canucks rallied for a 3-2 victory against the Edmonton Oilers on Monday for their season-high third win in a row.

With just 2:17 remaining and the Oilers holding a 2-1 lead, the Canucks were able to tie the game up on a long shot from Kevin Bieksa that beat Devan Dubnyk stick-side to send the game to overtime.

"It took a while, but I'm happy I was able to get it," said Tanev, who played the first 62 games of his career without a goal. "There was a little give-and-go and all their guys were watching them and I was able to come in off the blue line and I shot it and I think one of our guys screened the goalie and it went in. I'm pretty happy."

"He's a young player who has been with us for quite some time now," Canucks coach Alain Vigneault said of Tanev. "For him to get that goal tonight at the time that he did to win us the win was very good for the whole group. Everybody was really happy for him."

Taylor Hall was awarded a penalty shot for the Oilers with 2:47 gone in the extra session after being hooked down by Daniel Sedin on a breakaway, but Hall was stopped by Roberto Luongo, who finished with 23 saves in his fourth straight start.

“I was actually pretty confident,” Bieksa said of the penalty shot. “Roberto’s been looking really good in the shootout the last couple of games and he’s been working on it a lot in practice. He read it perfectly and he’s been great for us.”

Jannik Hansen also scored in regulation for the Canucks (5-2-2), who got a bit of revenge from the first time the two teams met this season when Edmonton came from behind 2-0 to win 3-2 in a shootout.

Ales Hemsky and Ryan Smyth scored for the Oilers (4-3-2), who have lost three in a row. Dubnyk finished with 37 saves.

"It was very disappointing how the game ended up," Oilers coach Ralph Krueger said. "After the onslaught we faced in the second period, we felt we were in the better position and everybody was working hard to fill in for (injured players Mark Fistric and Shawn Horcoff).

"We had lots of blocked shots and a lot of effort from everybody. It was really disappointing not only to end up in overtime, but to lose out on a point."

Hemsky got the Oilers on the board late in the first period via the power play. Nail Yakupov made a nice chip pass and Hemsky hustled to beat Jason Garrison to the puck before undressing Luongo with a deke for his third goal of the season.

The Oilers doubled their lead eight minutes into the second as Anton Lander picked off a pass at the Canucks’ blue line while shorthanded and sent it to Smyth in front. His shot was partially blocked by Alex Edler, but still managed to dribble its way into the Vancouver net.

The Canucks got on the board four minutes later after a good battle by Hansen culminated in his shot from behind the goal-line catching Dubnyk off guard, going in off his arm.

“The second period, it felt like we were coming at them in waves and we were getting our chances and their goalie stood strong for most of the game,” Bieksa said. “It was a big comeback.”

The Canucks had a good chance to tie it up five minutes into the third period on a tipped shot in front of the net by Alexandre Burrows, but Dubnyk was able to make a leaping save. Luongo matched that with a point-blank save on Jordan Eberle with nine minutes to play.

"We started off a bit slow, but halfway through the second we picked it up," Tanev said. "It was good game tonight, so it was nice to get it in overtime. It's good that we came back, I think we showed some character."

Material from wire services and team media was used in this report.