VANCOUVER 4 NASHVILLE 3 (SO)

Byron Bitz made Vancouver Canucks coach Alain Vigneault look like a genius Tuesday night.

Playing in just his second game with Vancouver, Bitz scored one goal and set up another to help the Canucks beat the Nashville Predators 4-3 in a shootout at Bridgestone Arena.

Vigneault raised eyebrows when he served notice at Tuesday morning's game-day skate that he was splitting up the Sedin twins and had Bitz skating on a line with Henrik Sedin and Mason Raymond. Daniel Sedin skated with Ryan Kesler and Alex Burrows.

In a 23-second span late in the first, while he was on the ice with both of the twins, Bitz made the most of his opportunity. He scored a goal and then set up one by Daniel Sedin that gave the Canucks a 3-1 lead.

The Predators tied the game early in the second, but the Canucks got the win when Alex Burrows and Alex Edler scored in a shootout that went six rounds.

Burrows beat Nashville goalie Pekka Rinne with his patented deke to his backhand, while Edler went five-hole to snap Rinne's 11-game win streak.

Vancouver goalie Roberto Luongo made two big saves in overtime, stopping a Shea Webber blast from the right circle with 1: 46 left in OT and then robbing Colin Wilson at the buzzer. He then stopped five of six Nashville shooters in the shootout; only David Legwand scored.

It was the fifth straight game the Canucks have had to play overtime.

For the 11th straight road game, the Canucks scored first. Kesler extended his goal-scoring streak to four games when he took a pass from Burrows and put a shot from the right faceoff circle under the left arm of Rinne at 11: 42 of the first period.

That lead only lasted two minutes.

After Vancouver defenceman Aaron Rome couldn't clear the puck at his own blue-line, Nashville forward Colin Wilson beat Luongo from the left circle to tie things up at 13: 47.

But then Bitz and the Sedin twins went to work. The trio found themselves on the ice together after the Canucks had killed a tripping minor assessed David Booth late in the first.

Off the rush, Henrik fed a pass to Bitz in the slot and his shot beat Rinne stick side at 18: 21. Bitz then did some nice work behind the net, where he won a puck battle against Predators forward Nick Spaling and fed a backhand pass to Daniel Sedin, who beat Rinne from close range.

The Canucks got their three first-period goals on 11 shots. Nashville peppered Luongo with 16 shots in the first.

The Predators answered with two quick goals of their own early in the second. A Kevin Klein shot from the right point went off the right skate of Sergei Kostitsyn and past Luongo at the 4: 14 mark. Just 1: 02 later, a Weber floater hit Mike Fisher in front and the puck trickled through the pads of Luongo.

Bitz admitted to doing "a little bit of a double-take" when he saw the new lines on the dressing room board Tuesday morning.

"To play with an all-star and an elite player in this league is something that is a very good opportunity," he said after the morning skate.