VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP)—Ryan Kesler(notes) had three goals while Daniel Sedin(notes) added two goals and an assist to help the Vancouver Canucks extend their winning streak to eight games with a 6-1 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Friday night.
Sedin sandwiched his goals around Kesler's first as Vancouver put its first three shots of the second period past goalie Nikolai Khabibulin(notes). Kesler completed his second career hat trick—the first was in mid-December—with deflection goals in the third period as Vancouver set a new franchise record by going unbeaten in regulation for 15 games (13-0-2).
Alex Edler also scored, Henrik Sedin(notes) had three assists, and Cory Schneider(notes) made 23 saves for the Canucks, who also established a new mark for the team's best 20-game stretch at 171-2 and remain first overall in the NHL with 59 points.
Ales Hemsky(notes) scored with less than a second left in the second period, and Khabibulin finished with 29 stops for the Oilers, who were coming off a win over the New York Islanders the night before, but have now lost eight of nine.
Khabibulin was actually sharp while Edmonton was being outshot 14-6 in the first period, making a couple of point-blank saves off Daniel Sedin and Manny Malhotra(notes). But things opened up early in the second, and as usual against the Oilers it was the Sedin twins leading the way for Vancouver.
Daniel got it started 30 seconds into the period after a perfect cross-ice pass off the rush left him with an empty net. Kesler doubled the lead 94 seconds later with a 40-foot wrist shot that handcuffed Khabibulin, hitting his glove before bouncing up and over the goalie and trickling into the net.
After a couple of great saves by Schneider, Daniel Sedin made it 3-0 on the next shot at 6:36, finishing off a pretty 2-on-1 pass from twin brother Henrik. That forced Khabibulin to slide right and allowed Daniel to cut back into the middle the other way before tucking his team-high 24th goal into the empty net.
Daniel now has 29 goals in 58 career games against the Oilers, while Henrik has 57 points in 61 games versus the Northwest Division rivals.
Hemsky cut into the lead with three-tenths of a second left in the second period, jamming in a loose puck on a play that survived a lengthy review.
But Kesler tipped a high Dan Hamhuis(notes) shot between Khabibulin's legs five minutes into the third, and deflected in Christian Ehrhoff's(notes) shot on a power play 6 minutes later. The Sedins set up Edler's power play goal with 6:58 left.
Notes: Schneider, making his fifth start in eight games, improved to 8-0-2 in his first full NHL season. … Vancouver C Alexandre Bolduc(notes) was a healthy scratch after going 0-for-8 on faceoffs against Calgary Wednesday, including losing the defensive zone draw that cost Roberto Luongo(notes) a shutout with 10.8 seconds left. Aaron Volpatti(notes) took his place. … Edmonton C Gilbert Brule(notes) missed the game after suffering an abdominal injury Thursday.
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