Canucks trip up Flames in OT, 3-2

In Calgary, Jacob Markstrom made 31 saves for the visiting Vancouver Canucks in a 3-2 overtime win over the Flames.

Alexander Edler struck for the game-winner with 1:54 left in the extra session.

“I just think we’ve realized how we need to play to be successful,” Edler said. “We need everyone every night and we need to execute our system and do that for 60 minutes. That’s when you can make other teams crack.”

The Canucks improved to 19-18-4 and are 8-2-1 in their last 11 games.

Brock Boeser and Elias Pettersson scored for the Canucks in regulation.

“He’s (Pettersson) got a great shot,” Markstrom said. “It doesn’t take many chances for him to score. You see it in practice too; he can pick his spots. It’s huge to have a guy like that. It’s confidence for the group.

“The group knows too; [Boeser] too. [Boeser] scored right away on the power play. It’s huge to have guys like that.”

Mark Jankowski and Travis Hamonic (shorthanded) scored for the Flames.

“It’s tough, you come up short in those games in overtime,” Hamonic said. “It’s the end of December and these points are crucial. You see how tight the standings are right now. Everyone’s getting points around you, so you’ve got to keep pace.”

The Flames dropped to 23-12-4.

“We had stretches where we played really well and there were stretches where we could have been better, we could have been sharper,” Jankowski said.

[WATCH: All Canucks vs. Flames highlights]

David Rittich made 24 saves in the loss.

“I thought we played alright. We didn’t have a great start, but we picked it up and we were generating a lot and I think we gave up odd-man rushes, and that comes back to bite you. You’ve got to play the right way the whole game and that’s how you win games,” the Flames’ Sean Monahan