Getting even

EDMONTON -- For years now, the Vancouver Canucks have rolled through Rexall Place like an offensive line through a Chinese buffet.

When they felt like playing 60 minutes, they won handily. When they only had 40 in them, they won anyhow. Oftentimes, 20 was good enough.

There is something different, however, about this Edmonton Oilers team. They're young, they're talented, and call them dumb, but they feel like they can play with the Canucks now.

"I'm not saying we're not going to take two points against the Vancouver Canucks, because they're a great team. But we can play better than we did," Edmonton's Taylor Hall said, after the Oilers exploded for three second period goals in a 3-2 win.

Vancouver showed up in the third period, started playing, and darned near pulled out a point.

"If they would have played that game the whole night, maybe it would have been a different story," Hall said, who had a goal and an assist. "We held them in check for the first two periods. We may have sat back a little bit (in the third), took our foot off the gas pedal."

You can debate whether the Oilers let up, or led by the Sedin line, the Canucks came on hard in the third period Tuesday night. But you can't argue with the scoreboard, as Edmonton (temporarily) vaulted past Vancouver in the Western Conference standings.

"It wasn't pretty, but it was good," said Oilers coach Tom Renney, whose team has led in each of the eight games it has played this season, but coughed up leads in four of them.

"This is a good week for us," Renney added. "Washington is coming up (on Thursday). Two high-octane teams, (but) they're not wearing capes, as far as I can see. We've got to go get them."

Edmonton chased the beleaguered Roberto Luongo with three second-period goals in 5:02. The line of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Jordan Eberle and Hall gave Vancouver fits, piling up five points and 11 shots, despite a beauty three-way passing play in the third period that resulted in the save of the year in this building by Canucks reliever Cory Schneider.

"Unbelievable save, I put it right where I wanted to. Kudos to him," said Eberle, who watched Schneider glove a puck that might have made it over the line, though we'll never know, as it was inside Schneider's trapper.

It was the kind of game by the Canucks backup that will fan the fires of discontent with Luongo in Vancouver. Luongo was burned for three goals, and Schneider came on heroically, refusing to give up that fourth goal that would have put the game out of reach.

"You give up three quick goals like that something has to give," Luongo said of being hooked.

How will he deal with it?

"Same as every other time, just let it go and that's it," Luongo said. "What's important for me right now is not the result of tonight, but I felt like I'm playing the way I should be playing and felt good. Unfortunately, the result was not there. Just keep working and keep my head up and that's it; things will turn around, they always do."

Said his head coach, Alain Vigneault: "I don't think you can blame our goaltender tonight."

If it's blame you're slinging, start with the twins. When they showed up -- for the final 20 minutes -- the Oilers were hemmed in their own end every Sedin shift. Renney, in turn, used a different tact than in previous games, where he had opted to protect the lead by playing his veterans.

This time he played the Nugent-Hopkins line, "because they were attacking." Had Schneider not authored that 10-bell save, Renney would have been rewarded with the insurance goal by his young trio, which is taking the Western Conference by storm.

Nugent-Hopkins now has eight points, and Hall and Eberle seven each to sit atop the Oilers scoring list. Nugent-Hopkins is no sooner going back to junior in Red Deer after Game 9, than this sports writer is flying first-class to Vancouver to be feted by the Canucks fan club.

Vancouver, meanwhile, drops to 4-4-1. An average start, at best.

"Have you been around us in Octobers?" Vigneault asked a reporter. "It always seems to be a challenge for us in October to get the timing, get the rhythm. This October seems not to be any different."

In Edmonton, it's way different.

Top 10 in penalty kill, top five in goals against, and in Khabibulin, a reborn goaltender with some of the best numbers in the NHL this month.

There is some life back in this old rivalry, and it can only get better from here.

Mark Spector is the senior columnist on sportsnet.ca