Chris Higgins scored the shootout winner and Daniel Sedin added three assists to lift the Vancouver Canucks past the Edmonton Oilers 5-4 in a roller coaster game on Saturday night.

The Canucks improved to 2-0 to begin the season even though their home opener didn’t get off to the start they had hoped for. The Canucks were by far the second best team on the ice in the first period watching the Oilers get out to a 2-0 lead by the midway point of the frame with goals from Brad Hunt on the power play, followed by a Mark Arcobello tap in at the side of the net.  Henrik Sedin would finally give the Canucks some life scoring on a redirect with just 10 seconds left in the period to cut the lead in half heading into the intermission having been outshot 10-5.

The Canucks slowly found their legs in the second period as the teams traded four goals in quick succession before the 10:48 mark. Nail Yakupov and Jesse Joensuu scored for the visitors while Canuck new comers Nick Bonino and Radim Vrbata with his second of the season responded pulling Vancouver within one at 4-3 after 40 minutes.  The Canucks outshot the Oilers 21-8 in the frame but Edmonton netminder Viktor Fasth kept his club in the game.

The early minutes of the third period featured a spirited fight between some rare combatants as Oilers young star Ryan Nugent-Hopkins took exception to a hard hit from veteran Dan Hamhuis. The pair clutched and grabbed for a few moments before deciding to drop the gloves in a crowd-pleasing tussle. Oilers forward Benoit Pouliot also took an interference penalty on the play giving the Canucks a key power play.  Moments later the Canucks would capitalize on that man advantage with another newcomer Linden Vey blasting a one timer thru Fasth’s legs, recording his first NHL goal and tying the game at 4-4.

Overtime would solve nothing, allowing Chris Higgins to play hero scoring the lone goal of the skills competition while Canucks goaltender Ryan Miller stopped all three shooters he faced. Miller the less busy goalie on the night stopped 25 of 29 Oilers shots while at the other end Fasth was impressive in turning aside 39 of 43 Canucks shots.

The Canucks new top line of Henrik and Daniel Sedin along with Radim Vrbata continue to show early season chemistry combining for seven points in the win. With the loss the Oilers now fall to 0-1-1 on the young season.