VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) - Adam Oates should shoot more often.

Oates took a pass from Sylvain Cote at the blue line, skated in alone down the right side and fired a slap shot from the right circle that beat Dan Cloutier low on the glove side.

Oates, known primarily as a passer, didn't hesitate to let a shot go from the top of the circle.

"I don't pass up many shots from that spot," Oates said of the overtime goal. "It was a great pass from Cote and it gave me lots of time to come in and get a good shot."

Oates also scored a power-play goal with three seconds left in the second period to stake the Capitals to a 3-1 lead. The Capitals captain extended his point streak to six games and now has two goals and seven assists during the stretch.

"He had a lot of time and he just stared me down and tried to pick a corner and he did," said Cloutier, making his first start with Vancouver after the Canucks acquired him from Tampa Bay last week. He stopped 25 shots for the Canucks, who are winless (0-2-1) since the All-Star break.

"He's probably the best passer in the league and people tend to forget that he s a great shooter as well," Cloutier said.

Todd Bertuzzi scored twice, including the tying goal with 2:06 left in regulation, as the Canucks rallied from a 3-1 third-period deficit.

"We kind of settled back too much and gave them too much room," said Peter Bondra, who scored his 34th goal of the season on a second-period power play. "We should force, and put the pressure on them instead of sitting back and waiting."

Washington capitalized on 3 of 5 power-play opportunities through the first two periods to take the two-goal lead. Calle Johansson, Bondra and Oates all scored with the man advantage for the Capitals, who entered with the league's third best power play.

"The power play has been great for the last month or so," Oates said. "Everybody has the right stick on the right spot and it's allowed everybody to play their position and it's been doing well for us."

Sergei Gonchar added a pair of assists for Washington, which improved to 4-0-1 on its road trip and to 6-0-2 in the last eight games.

Brendan Morrison started Vancouver's third-period comeback 4:53 in when he fired a power-play slap shot from the left circle over Olaf Kolzig's outstretched glove.

"We put in a good third period, it wasn't like we folded the tent," Oates said. "They got one on the power play to get them going and the goal at the end was a bit of a cheap one."

Kolzig, playing for the second time in as many nights, stopped 22 shots for the Capitals.

Johansson opened the scoring with a point shot that beat a screened Cloutier with 49 seconds left in the first period.

After Bertuzzi tied it on a breakaway 7:15 into the second, Bondra wristed a shot from the left circle over Cloutier's blocker at 15:18 to restore Washington's one-goal lead.

Game notes
Vancouver forward Steve Kariya was recalled earlier in the day from Kansas City of the IHL. He was brought up because Trent Klatt has been hospitalized with a painful eczema rash that prevents him from putting skates on his swollen feet. Klatt expects to be back within a week. ... Washington's Ron Wilson coached his 600th career NHL game. ... The Capitals wrap up their six-game road trip Saturday at Montreal.

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