Cloutier has 31 saves in OT win

OTTAWA (AP) -- Dan Cloutier needed a big save and a little luck to earn a milestone win.

Cloutier stopped 31 shots for his 100th NHL victory, and Markus Naslund scored 4:13 into overtime to lift the Vancouver Canucks past the Ottawa Senators 3-2 Thursday night.

After Ottawa defenseman Chris Phillips hit the crossbar with less than a minute left in regulation, Cloutier made a pad stop to rob Zdeno Chara 1:50 into overtime.

"The only way you persevere there is to make that save and continue on," Canucks coach Marc Crawford said. "It was a great save by Dan."

Naslund got the winner with 46.2 seconds showing on the clock.

"I was just driving to the net," Naslund said. "It was a lucky bounce. I didn't even see the puck coming."

The puck went in off Naslund's skate during a scramble following defenseman Sami Salo's point shot.

"That's a tough way to lose a game," Senators goalie Patrick Lalime said. "We knew it was a big battle. It took a fluke goal to finish it off."

The Canucks won their second straight after ending a five-game road losing streak Tuesday in Montreal.

"Whenever you come into this building and you can get two points, you've obviously done some good things out on the ice," Cloutier said. "It was an exciting game. There was a lot of speed on both sides, so it was fun to be part of."

Vancouver blew a 2-0 lead when Peter Schaefer and Jason Spezza scored 51 seconds apart late in the second period. Schaefer scored with 1:36 left in the second, shortly after Daniel Sedin gave Vancouver a 2-0 lead.

Spezza got his sixth of the season with 44.4 seconds remaining in the period to bring the sold-out crowd to its feet.

Lalime came up with a big stop on rookie goal-scoring leader Jason King's shot from the slot midway through the third to keep it tied.

"It was a great hockey game," Lalime said. "Both teams were skating well and it could have gone either way. We showed a lot of character by coming back."

Mike Keane gave Vancouver a 1-0 lead for the second straight game in the first period, and Sedin completed a nifty give-and-go with twin brother Henrik 15:21 into the second.

Vancouver defenseman Marek Malik was struck on the nose shortly afterward by the stick of Senators right wing Martin Havlat. There was no penalty called, and Malik left a trail of blood along the ice from the circle to the right of Cloutier to the Vancouver bench as he went to the dressing room.

Before there was another whistle, Schaefer scored his seventh to draw Ottawa within 2-1 at 18:24.

The Senators caught a break to tie it at 19:15. Spezza got control of a bouncing puck in the Canucks zone and put a shot into the top right corner as Havlat jumped across the goal mouth in front of Cloutier.

"They came out real hard and took it to us," Schaefer said. "Then I thought we took over the game and worked harder in the second and third. They were fortunate enough to get a bounce in overtime and it won them the game."

After ending a 38-game goal-scoring drought on Tuesday, Keane got credit for his second goal of the season -- but only after a lengthy video review.

The goal stood when replays showed that the puck went into the net off Keane's leg after Canucks defenseman Brent Sopel's point shot struck Lalime and popped up in the air.

Game notes
Malik wore a visor when he returned early in the third period. ... Havlat returned after missing three games with a groin injury. Senators forward Bryan Smolinski, who drew an assist on Spezza's goal, also returned. He was sidelined for two games by a separated right shoulder. ... It was the Senators' third sellout of the season and first since the opening two games of the season.