Vancouver Canucks' David Booth (R) tries to block the view of Edmonton Oilers' goalie Nikolai Khabibulin (L) during their NHL hockey game in Edmonton October 25, 2011.DAN RIEDLHUBER/Reuters
Nikolai Khabibulin made 35 saves and Jordan Eberle and Taylor Hall had a goal and an assist each as the Edmonton Oilers won 3-2 over the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday.
Shawn Horcoff also scored for the Oilers (4-2-2) who won their second straight.
Cody Hodgson and Alexandre Burrows responded for the Canucks (4-4-1).
Vancouver goalie Roberto Luongo was pulled in the second period after allowing three goals on 14 shots. He was replaced by Cory Schneider who stopped all eight shots he faced.
Edmonton had some potentially disastrous news midway through the first as star defenceman Ryan Whitney got his skate tied up with teammate Corey Potter and went down hard before limping off the ice.
Whitney only played 35 games last season and missed the first four games of this season, still recovering from off-season surgery to his right ankle.
The 28-year-old defenceman was able to return for the last couple minutes of play in the opening period, but did not return after that with what was announced as a right knee injury.
The Oilers started the scoring two minutes into the second period as Hall fed Eberle who beat Luongo high to the glove side with a wrist shot for his first of the season.
Edmonton quickly made it a 3-0 game with goals 57 seconds apart.
Four minutes after Eberle's goal, Luongo coughed up the puck behind the net to Ryan Smyth, who fed it in front for Horcoff and he scored his first of the season into a wide-open net.
Less than a minute later Ryan Nugent-Hopkins sent a pass in front that caromed off a skate and Eberle's stick to Hall, who pounded home his second of the year to end Luongo's night.
Vancouver got on the board with eight minutes to play in the second period as a Hodgson shot ticked off the stick of Oiler Ryan Jones and redirected past Khabibulin to make it 3-1 after 40 minutes.
Edmonton came close to regaining it's three-goal edge six minutes into the third but a Hall shot clanged off the post.
Vancouver bounced back with a quality chance of its own a couple of minutes later but Khabibulin was able to get back into position to make a point-blank save on defenceman Sami Salo.
The Canucks pulled to within one with 12 minutes left to play, as Henrik Sedin took a big rebound on a Salo shot and made a pretty backhand pass to Burrows who put it between Khabibulin's legs to make it 3-2.
With just over six minutes left, Schneider made a spectacular glove save on the goal line to rob Eberle and keep Vancouver's deficit at one.
David Booth made his Canucks debut after coming over in trade with Florida. He played on a line with Ryan Kesler and Chris Higgins and finished with three shots on goal in just under16 minutes of ice time.
The Canucks return home to take on the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday. The Oilers play the final game of a four-game homestand on Thursday against the Washington Capitals.
Notes: It was the second meeting of the season between the two teams. Vancouver won the first game 4-3, taking away from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins first career hat trick. ... Nugent-Hopkins, this year's first overall NHL draft pick who leads the Oilers in scoring, now has just one game left before the team can return him to junior. Edmonton has still not gone on record that he is staying with the team. ... Booth played on all-American line with Ryan Kesler and Chris Higgins that has already been dubbed the American Express line. ... Veteran 38-year-old Nikoali Khabibulin, who came in leading the league in goals against average and second in save percentage, made his third consecutive start in the Edmonton net.