VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Ticker) -- The Vancouver Canucks keep getting production from their defensemen and keep rolling at home.
Defenseman Sami Salo scored 2:59 into overtime as the Canucks rallied for a 3-2 victory over the struggling Chicago Blackhawks to remain one of only two unbeaten home teams in the NHL.
Salo got a backhanded pass from rookie Jason King at the top of the right faceoff circle and ripped a rising slap shot past goaltender Craig Anderson and into the top right corner of the net.
"I just did the usual - put your head down, close your eyes and shoot the puck," Salo said. "This was just one of those nights when the puck seems to go in."
Ed Jovanovski and Bryan Allen also scored for Vancouver, which improved to 9-0-1 at GM Place. Eight of the Canucks' last nine goals have been scored by defensemen, who lead all NHL blue liners with 51 points in 20 games.
"Yeah, we're definitely getting some goals," Allen said. "We were doing that last year. We're just getting the chances, getting the shots on net and fortunately enough, a lot of them are going in."
Mark Bell and Bryan Berard tallied in the first period for Chicago, which fell to 0-3-1-3 in its last seven games and has lost four straight at Vancouver.
"It's a good point on the road," Berard said. "To be a good and successful team, when you have the lead, you have to keep the lead. It makes the guys a little big angry that we didn't get the two points."
Bell got the Blackhawks going just 23 seconds into the game and Berard made it 2-0 at 15:26, scoring on one of Chicago's five first-period power plays.
"It seems that everything was getting called," Vancouver left wing Todd Bertuzzi said. "Obviously, there's going to be some that you question, but you've just got to play through it."
Jovanovski, who tallied twice in Tuesday's overtime win over Montreal, got the Canucks on the board at 3:07 of the second period. Allen tied it 5:59 into the third with his first goal in 28 games.
"We had a very strong start to the game. I think we caught them by surprise," Blackhawks coach Brian Sutter said. "But after our second goal and in the third, especially, we were really holding back and they kept pouring it on."
Criticized by coach Marc Crawford a week ago, Johan Hedberg made 29 saves, stopping all 18 shots after the first period.
"I'm going to have to be sharper," Hedberg said. "Earlier in the game, i did not come out as prepared as I need to be. ... I don't think that I've been playing up to my standards so far. I know that I can play better."
