VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- Jyrki Lumme scored on a backhander 90 seconds into overtime to lift the Vancouver Canucks to a 2-1 victory over the New York Islanders on Thursday night.
From the opening faceoff of overtime, the Canucks seemed determined not to duplicate a disappointing overtime loss to the Islanders on Nov. 13. Vancouver had constant pressure in the New York zone before Alexander Mogilny carried over the blue line at the right point and slid a pass into the slot to a cutting Lumme. The Canucks defenseman sped past Islander winger Derek King before using his backhand to lift a rolling puck over goaltender Tommy Salo's left shoulder.
"It's the least I could for Kirk (McLean) the way he played," Lumme said. "He kept us in the game, I was just fortunate to get a chance like that. Alex made an unbelievable play and I just tried to put it at the net. When we came over the blue line everyone was looking at Alex, wondering what he was gonna do. While they were waiting to see what he would do I could get some speed going. Once I beat the first guy, all I could do was put it on net."
McLean stopped all 25 shots over the first two periods and finished with 34 saves. The Canucks, who avenged a 5-4 overtime loss to the Islanders in the teams' only other meeting this season, improved to 4-2-1 in their last seven games.
"There were some guys in front of our net and I never saw the shot," Salo said. "I saw him (Lumme) coming in and I could see he was gonna shoot but I didn't see where it was going. It was really tough to take: how we didn't close them down in the overtime. We had been playing really well and if we could've closed it down a little we could've got some points. We need points."
Mike Sillinger also scored for Vancouver, which has won five of its last six games against New York.
Vancouver got a boost by the return of center Trevor Linden, who had missed the previous 24 games with a sprained medial collateral ligament in his left knee.
"I made a few errors here and there but all in all it's good to get the first one out of the way," Linden said. "Things are a little fast out there, you have to convince yourself that you can do things, you can take that hit or lean into somebody. It would've been a nice way to come back but the big thing was we won. The Islanders played well, played hard and we were lucky to get those two points."
"It was sure good to see No. 16 (Linden) out there, maybe his timing was off a bit but that guy means a lot to everybody," McLean said.
Marty McInnis tallied the lone goal for the Islanders, who have lost consecutive games after a three-game winning streak. Salo stopped 20 shots.
"It was one of the best games we've played in a long time," New York coach Rick Bowness said. "It had a good pace, they are an excellent skating club with three lines coming at you and for us to play with them we have to play very well. We've got nothing to show for it. I was very pleased with how we battled. Vancouver is one of the fastest teams in the league but you have to score to win games and we didn't."
Vancouver improved to 5-2-2 in overtime while New York fell to 1-2-9.
After a scoreless first period, Sillinger gave the Canucks a 1-0 lead with his 14th goal, a power-play tally, 2:39 into the second period. Chris Joseph's shot from the right faceoff circle deflected off Sillinger in front and an Islander defenseman before slipping through Salo's pads.
The Islanders pulled even at 8:52 of the third period. Derek Armstrong dug the puck out of the right corner and fed a pass into the slot to McInnis, who beat McLean over the right shoulder for his 15th goal.
Jon's 3 stars:
1. Kirk McLean
2. Ziggy Palffy
3. Jyrki Lumme
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