Vancouver Canucks’ Curtis Sanford, right, stops Ottawa’s Daniel Alfredsson during the first period of Sunday’s game in Vancouver, B.C.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Curtis Sanford’s timing was perfect for the Vancouver Canucks.

Sanford made 18 saves for his fourth career shutout and first in nearly three years in the Canucks’ 3-0 victory over Ottawa on Sunday night, the Senators’ 12th straight loss on the road.

Sanford stopped Daniel Alfredsson from point-blank range in the third minute, but was rarely challenged after that as the Canucks held Ottawa to its lowest shot total of the season. Sanford’s last shutout was Jan. 23, 2006, for St. Louis against Vancouver.

“I can’t say enough about how the guys played tonight,” Stanford said. “We played with discipline and we played with structure. We played with a lot of speed.

“We knew we had to do that because they were playing their second game in two nights, so we had to come out with speed, get the pucks deep on them and make them play in their own end. We haven’t been doing that lately but we did tonight.”

It was important to the Canucks to preserve the shutout for Sanford and reward him for his play during the absence of No. 1 goalie Roberto Luongo, who went down with a groin strain on Nov. 22.

“He has been playing well for us ever since Lou went down,” said Alex Burrows, who dropped down to block a point shot with just 5 seconds left in the game.

“He works so hard in practice and he’s such a nice guy, everyone likes him in the locker room, so we wanted to get the shutout for him. We’ll do anything as a team to get him the shutout, and more importantly, get him the win.”

Henrik Sedin and Pavol Demitra each had a goal and an assist, and defenseman Alex Edler also scored. The Canucks snapped a two-game losing streak to improve to 20-14-5.

With the world junior championship in Ottawa, the Senators played their third game on an eight-game trip. They are an NHL-worst 3-11-2 on the road, and have just one win in their last six games overall.

“There is obviously a lot of frustration in our dressing room,” Alfredsson said. “We are just trying to give ourselves a chance every night but we don’t seem to be able to play for a full 60 minutes.”

In other games on Sunday:

Blackhawks 4

Wild 1

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Dustin Byfuglien led Chicago to its franchise-record ninth straight victory, scoring two goals and adding an assist in the Blackhawks’ decision over Minnesota. Chicago broke the team record of eight straight victories set in December 1971 and matched in January 1981. With the nine-game streak, the Blackhawks also tied San Jose for the longest run of the season.

Bruins 2

Thrashers 1

ATLANTA — Michael Ryder broke a tie with 6:04 left, and Boston won its eighth straight to tie San Jose for the overall NHL lead with 58 points. Ryder converted a perfect lead pass from David Krejci to beat goalie Kari Lehtonen for his 14th goal and second winner in two nights.

Capitals 4

Maple Leafs 1

WASHINGTON — Alex Ovechkin scored two goals, including the tiebreaker with 10 seconds left in the second period, Brooks Laich also scored twice, and Washington improved its home record to an Eastern Conference-best 15-1-1. Jose Theodore made 23 saves to win his third consecutive start for Washington.

Ducks 4

Blues 3

ST. LOUIS — Bobby Ryan scored on a power play with 7:11 to play, and Scott Niedermayer had a goal and an assist to help Anaheim snap a three-game losing streak. Rob Niedermayer and Steve Montador also scored, Ryan Getzlaf had two assists, and Jonas Hiller made 27 saves.

Oilers 5

Predators 2

EDMONTON, Alberta — Dwayne Roloson made 28 saves, and Eric Cole had a goal and two assists for Edmonton. Sheldon Souray, Shawn Horcoff, Andrew Cogliano and Sam Gagner also scored for Edmonton.