EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Ryan Miller is a perfect 10 against the Edmonton Oilers.
Miller made 25 saves and Derek Dorsett had a goal and an assist as the Vancouver Canucks stretched their winning streak to four with a 3-2 victory over the Oilers on Saturday night.
The 34-year-old Miller improved to 10-0 against Edmonton, a record he was at a loss to explain.
“It’s just kind of how it has worked out,” Miller said. “When I was out East you would face teams like them maybe every other year and a lot of the games they were on a long trip coming into our building. It’s just one of the anomalies of the game. I prepare the same for any team. Every game has been close this season, it’s just been a matter of having that last little push at the end for us.”
Luca Sbisa and Linden Vey also scored for the Canucks, who moved to 8-3 on a night when their top line was held off the scoresheet.
“The Sedin line, they carried us a lot on the first few games of the year and I think we are starting to get some offensive play from all four lines now,” Dorsett said. “We have said since training camp that we wanted to be a four-line team. If we can do that night in and night out, it will win us a lot of games.”
Jordan Eberle and David Perron had goals for the Oilers (4-6-1), who have lost two in a row and are 0-6-1 against Western Conference opponents this season.
Ben Scrivens stopped 27 shots but fell to 4-5.
Vancouver took a 3-2 lead on a big gaffe by Scrivens, who misplayed an attempt to send the puck up ice — sending it instead to Dorsett, who put it between the goalie’s legs for a short-handed goal.
“I made a bad play, that’s about it,” Scrivens said. “It’s unbelievably frustrating. To make a play that cost your team the game is unbelievably frustrating. You have to try not to make those.”
Oilers coach Dallas Eakins said Scrivens has been a stalwart for the team of late and doesn’t deserve to be the only one feeling bad about the loss.
“I’m certainly not going to stand here and crucify the guy,” Eakins said. “It’s easy to stand back and point fingers, but that kid kept us in that game at a lot of key points and was a huge part of us coming out of the hole when we hadn’t won. He’ll bounce back. He made a mistake, he’s owned up to it. He kept us in the game with some massive saves. I’m very cautious to pin the whole game on him.”
Dorsett’s goal was a special one for the former New York Ranger.
“Every goal is important, but it was exciting to get my first goal as a Canuck,” he said. “It just so happened to be the winner and short-handed as well, which made it that much better.”
Eberle gave the Oilers a 1-0 lead 12:39 in, and Sbisa tied it 1-1 with 47 seconds left in the first period. Chris Higgins earned the primary assist for his 300th NHL point.
Higgins cleared a rebound out of traffic in front to a pinching Sbisa, who beat Scrivens with a slap shot.
Early in the second period, Edmonton lost leading scorer Taylor Hall to injury when the forward crashed hard into the net. Hall, who earned his 10th point assisting on Eberle’s goal, sustained a leg injury and didn’t return.
There was a vicious hit with 5:57 left in the second period when Oilers captain Andrew Ference sent Zack Kassian flying with a high body check that drew a penalty for illegal check to the head.
“I didn’t see it live. The league might look at it,” Canucks coach Willie Desjardins said. “We’ll have to see what happens.”
Vancouver made it 2-1 with 3:23 remaining in the second as Scrivens came across to make a big stop on Dorsett, but Vey put the rebound through his legs.
The Oilers tied it just 1:04 later when Leon Draisaitl picked off a pass and sent it to Perron, who beat Miller up high for his first goal of the season.
Edmonton came close to taking the lead on the power play 4 minutes into the third as Eberle had another excellent chance on the backhand, but Miller got a piece of his stick on it to deflect the puck over the net.
NOTES: It was the third meeting of the season between the teams. Vancouver has won them all. … The Canucks were without forward Alex Burrows, who began a three-game suspension for a hit to the head on Montreal D Alexei Emelin on Thursday. Jannik Hansen moved up to play on Vancouver’s second line. It was Hansen’s 400th NHL game. … Vancouver’s Tom Sestito, a healthy scratch for the first 10 games, had his first action of the season. D Ryan Stanton, who has missed seven games with a lower-body injury, was a healthy scratch. … Oilers D Nikita Nikitin remained out with back spasms. Backup goalie Viktor Fasth returned from injury and was on the bench.
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