NHL-National Hockey League highlights

Nov 28 (The Sports Xchange) - Highlights of Thursday's National Hockey League games: Canucks 5, Senators 2 The Vancouver Canucks defeated the Ottawa Senators 5-2 on Thursday at Canadian Tire Centre in the first of a two-game season series that switches to B.C. Place in March for the Heritage Classic. The Canucks scored four unanswered second-period goals, including three in the first five minutes, to change the momentum of the game. Wingers Daniel Sedin and David Booth clicked 45 seconds apart, while defenseman Jason Garrison and winger Dale Weise also beat Senators goalie Craig Anderson. A goal with 62 lefts in the second period by winger Mika Zibanejad cut the Canucks' lead to 4-2 and gave the Senators some hope heading into the third. However, Vancouver (13-9-5) restored its three-goal advantage when center Mike Santorelli scored at 5:31 of the third period. The Senators (10-12-4) scored the only goal of the first period when left winger Clarke MacArthur took a pass at his own blue line, skated into Vancouver territory until he was near the bottom of the faceoff circle, then snapped a quick shot over goalie Roberto Luongo's right shoulder. - - - Oilers 3, Predators 0 Turning away 33 shots for his 31st career shutout, Ilya Bryzgalov led the Edmonton Oilers to a 3-0 win over the Nashville Predators at Bridgestone Arena. Center Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and left winger Taylor Hall scored for Edmonton (8-16-2) in the second period while the teams were playing 4-on-4 after Predators center Paul Gaustad and Oilers left winger David Perron were sent off for unsportsmanlike conduct. It was just the second loss in seven games for the Predators (13-11-2), who were blanked for an NHL-high sixth time. Predators goalie Marek Mazanec stopped 25 shots, but he was beaten twice within 51 seconds in the middle period. Nugent-Hopkins tapped in a pass by defenseman Jeff Petry at 5:32 for his sixth goal of the season. Hall followed at 6:23 with his seventh goal, taking a feed from center Sam Gagner and slipping a backhand past Mazanec. Oilers right winger Jordan Eberle tacked on an empty-net tally, his ninth goal of the season, with 57 remaining in the game. (Editing by Julian Linden)