NHL ROUNDUP : Canucks Outlast Oilers for a 5-4 Victory in Overtime

The Vancouver Canucks displayed some uncharacteristic tenacity Sunday against the defending Stanley Cup champion Edmonton Oilers.

After being on the ice for Edmonton’s go-ahead goal in the third period, the Vancouver line of Greg Adams, Igor Larionov and Petri Skriko quickly made amends for their lack of backchecking.

Adams scored the tying goal at 17:44 of the third period to send the the game into overtime and Skriko provided the winning goal at 1:32 in the Canucks’ 5-4 victory at Vancouver, Canada.

“That was an encouraging win for us because we played one of the best teams in hockey,” Canuck Coach Bob McCammon said. “It was especially nice because we kept coming back.”

Skriko lifted a rebound high into the net after Oiler goaltender Bill Ranford stopped a close-in shot by Larionov.

The Oilers (1-1-2) were the last undefeated team in the league until the Canucks (3-2) came back for their second consecutive victory.

“It’s not good enough for us just to be close anymore,” McCammon said. “We might just be better than people give us credit for.”

Esa Tikkanen, with his third goal of the game, had given the Oilers a 4-3 lead at 15:55 of the third period.

Craig Simpson scored the other Edmonton goal against rookie goaltender Troy Gamble.

The Canucks also had goals from Trevor Linden, Dave Capuano and Dan Quinn as they outshot Edmonton, 37-27. It was the fourth consecutive game in which Linden has scored.

Tikkanen also scored in the first period with a chip shot into an unguarded goal and in the second period on a 60-foot slap shot.

Calgary 3, Chicago 1--Joel Otto scored his first goal of the season at 8:49 of the third period at Chicago to break a 1-1 tie and lift the Flames to the victory.

Otto knocked in a rebound after goaltender Ed Belfour had stopped a low slap shot by defenseman Jamie Macoun from the left point. Paul Ranheim added an empty-net goal with one second left for the final margin.

“We certainly played better today than we did last night,” said Flame Coach Doug Risebrough, whose team lost, 5-3, to New Jersey on Saturday night then flew to Chicago for its afternoon game against the Blackhawks. “It’s not bad considering we took a two-hour flight from the East Coast, got to bed at two in the morning and ate our lunch at nine.”

The Flames are 11-0-2 against the Blackhawks since Feb. 23, 1986.