So far this season, the Canucks seem intent on proving the old adage that the two goal lead is the most dangerous in hockey.
Vancouver scored in overtime overcame an early 2-0 deficit against the New York Islanders to win 5-4.
Brad Richardson shot the puck towards the net at 2:16 of overtime with Kevin Bieksa appearing to tip the puck into the net, though the scorers credited the goal to Richardson.
Despite the win, coach John Tortorella was less than pleased with his team’s performance.
“I thought it was an absolute mess, right on through,” he said. “It seems like every time we come into this building…it turns into a cluster.
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“It was ugly. We made a ton of mistakes, they made a ton of mistakes, but we found a way to win.”
It’s the third time this season Vancouver has come back from two goals and moves them to 6-4-1 this year, while the Islanders fall to 3-4-2.
Brock Nelson and Matt Moulson scored in the first five minutes of the game for the Islanders, who had 32 shots to Vancouver’s 33.
But the Canucks recovered quickly in the busy first period, with Ryan Kesler scoring 16 seconds after Moulson’s goal and Daniel Sedin tying the game at the 9:09 mark.
The teams traded goals in the second – Moulson scoring his second of the game for the Islanders, with Henrik Sedin responding for the Canucks – before Chris Higgins scored his third of the season with 18 seconds left in the second period to make it 4-3 Vancouver.
That score looked like it might hold up – but with the goalie pulled, Frans Nielsen shot a rebound into the open side of the net for New York with 72 seconds remaining in the third.
Vancouver played most of the game with just 10 forwards, as David Booth was a healthy scratch, and Jannik Hansen left the game after crashing into the boards.
– With files from the Associated Press
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