Sedin scores twice as Canucks outlast Avs in overtime

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) -- Henrik Sedin wasn't worried how his goals looked, as long as they counted. Probably only one of them should have.

Sedin scored his first goal on a controversial high stick early in the second period, and added his second of the game 1:22 in overtime, lifting the Vancouver Canucks to a 2-1 win over the Colorado Avalanche on Friday night.

Sedin was attempting to hit twin brother Daniel Sedin with a backdoor pass, but the puck deflected off defenseman Kurt Sauer and past a helpless Jose Theodore.

"Most of them are ugly, I don't think I've scored from further out that 10 feet," said Henrik. "The second one was supposed to be a pass."

The first one looked more like a bunt, with Henrik knocking a rebound out of the air with Theodore still prone along the ice. It came not long after Daniel Sedin jammed in a loose puck just as Theodore was covering it with his glove. The referee indicated he'd already blown the whistle.

"That's a borderline call, just like the second one was," Henrik said. "We could have had none of the two so I'm happy with one."

The Avalanche didn't think they should have had either.

"It was clearly a mistake," Colorado coach Joel Quenneville said.

Sedin's stick appeared to be just above the cross bar when it made contact with the puck, but it was signaled a goal on the ice and a lengthy video review failed to produce an angle conclusive enough to overturn the call.

"It started above the cross bar but I think when I touched the puck it might have been level with the cross bar," Henrik said sheepishly. "I ll take it."

Roberto Luongo made 24 saves as Vancouver won its third straight game -- and just its second in eight home games -- to get back to .500 (8-8-0).

The three-game win streak started after the Canucks lost top-4 defensemen Sami Salo and Kevin Bieksa to serious injuries in a bad loss to Nashville. Vancouver has simplified its game since then, playing better defensively as a team, and getting big performances from their star goalie.

"We've really eliminated a lot of scoring chances," said Luongo, who made 36 saves in win in Calgary the night before. "It definitely brought the guys together more and we changed a few things in our system as far as our forecheck and guys collapsing down low in the slot area."

John-Michael Liles tied it 1:01 into the third period with a point shot that deflected in off the skate of defenseman Willie Mitchell as he battled Ryan Smyth in front.

"Anytime you can get a point on the road, especially when you re down in the third, it s got to be a small victory," Liles said.

Theodore, taking his turn in Colorado's goalie rotation with Peter Budaj, made 26 saves for the Avalanche, whose only two losses in the last eight games have come against Vancouver.

Theodore matched Luongo save for save through regulation, turning away Brad Isbister from inside the faceoff circle early and robbing Daniel Sedin on both a wrist shot and a tip from the slot in the third. He also got a couple of breaks as Markus Naslund and Daniel Sedin both missed empty nets early, and when the first goal was waved off.

"He was rock solid," Quenneville said. "He didn't get distracted at any point, he was square, he was solid, he was composed: It was a nice effort."

Game notes
Vancouver is 6-0-0 against the Northwest Division this season, and plays the next five games within the division they won last season. Colorado is 6-2-1 within the Northwest. Colorado C Jaroslav Hlinka, a 30-year-old rookie from the Czech Republic, was back after being scratched the last two games. The Canucks, who had four days off before playing back-to-back Thursday and Friday, now have four more days off before starting a stretch of nine games in 16 days.