Vancouver, BC – Henrik Sedin posted a goal and an assist and Cory Schneider recorded 23 saves for his fourth shutout of the season, as the Vancouver Canucks downed the red-hot Edmonton Oilers, 4-0, in a Northwest Division battle.
Kevin Bieksa, Chris Higgins and Zack Kassian also scored for the division- leading Canucks, who forged ahead of the Minnesota Wild by two points.
"Tonight we were ready to go and stuck to our game plan and didn't give them a whole lot," Schneider said. "I was really happy with how our team played."
Edmonton netted 25 goals during its five-game winning streak but couldn't solve Schneider, whose counterpart, Nikolai Khabibulin, gave up all four goals on 28 shots.
"We just didn't seem to bring the energy to match their intensity," Oilers coach Ralph Krueger admitted. "They came very hard and heavy. They were extremely strong along the boards early in the game."
The Oilers, who are one point behind the No. 8 spot in the Western Conference, were coming off a convincing 8-2 win in Calgary on Wednesday and were less than a week removed from a 4-0 rout of the Canucks after scoring four goals in the first 7:53 of the game.
There was no fast start Thursday, as Edmonton came out flat and was whistled for three penalties in a 4:06 span in the first period. The Canucks capitalized on their 5-on-3 advantage when Bieksa one-timed Henrik Sedin's pass just inside the left post at the 15:21 mark.
The Sedin brothers worked their magic late in the second. After catching the Oilers on a line change, Henrik controlled the puck behind the net and passed to Daniel at the left circle. Henrik went unaccounted for and cashed in on his brother's return feed at the right doorstep with 5:34 left in the period.
The Canucks padded the lead 6:47 into the third when Derek Roy sent a cross- ice pass to Higgins for a re-direct on an odd-man rush.
Kassian capped the scoring with 3.9 seconds left.
Game Notes
Schneider has eight career shutouts ... The Canucks are 11-1-4 when leading after the first period ... Bieksa's goal was his 200th career point ... Hall- of-Famer Pavel Bure was in attendance. Bure played seven seasons with the Canucks and twice scored 60 goals in a season for them ... Oilers defenseman Nick Schultz played in his 800th career game ... Taylor Hall had recorded 15 points in Edmonton's previous six games ... The rubber match of this five-game season series occurs in both teams' finale on Apr. 27.
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