OTTAWA -- In his first game for the Vancouver Canucks, goaltender Anders Nilsson turned a sensational opening period into a perfect ending.

In the process, he also stole the show from Ottawa Senators defenseman Erik Karlsson, who was making his regular season debut.

Nilsson stood tall as the Canucks were outshot 17-4 in the opening period, then wound up with a 32-save shutout as the Canucks dumped the Senators 3-0 at Canadian Tire Centre on Tuesday night.

It was the third career goose egg for Nilsson, a 27-year old Swede who is with his fifth NHL team.

"I felt good all night," said Nilsson, who signed with the Canucks as a free agent in the offseason. "Ottawa came out and pushed us back in the first period so I got to make some saves early and get into the game right away. In the second and third I thought we took over the game and we were the better team.

"I think the guys did a good job in front of me and overall I thought we deserved the two points tonight."

The win improved the Canucks to 2-2-1 while the Senators slipped to 3-1-2.

Brock Boeser and Alexander Burmistrov each had a goal and an assist for the Canucks, while Thomas Vanek rounded out the scoring with a breakaway goal at 15:12 of the third.

Craig Anderson stopped 21 shots in the Senators' net.

Only seven seconds before the Vanek goal, Karlsson beat Nilsson with a shot only to see it rattle off the crossbar.

"That was kind of the way the game went for us," said Karlsson, who missed the first five games of the season while recovering from offseason foot surgery. "I think for the most part we pushed the pace, we just couldn't find a way to score goals. That's how it's going to be sometimes."

Nilsson said he got "lucky" on the Karlsson shot.

"The post saved me and we able to go the other way and Vanek made a nice shot to close the game," he said. "You're always going out there and try to have a shutout. Of course it's a nice bonus but the most important thing and the thing we need right now is two points. That's almost a nicer feeling."

Karlsson, a two-time Norris Trophy winner, was a minus-2 while seeing 22:25 of ice time. Afterwards he said he felt a "a little rusty, but overall OK."

Boeser's second goal of the season was the only one scored in the opening period, ending the Senators' run of 15 consecutive penalties killed. It was set up by Burmistrov, and the Senators said he was guilty of goalie interference. But after a coaching challenge, the goal stood.

"It was a good five-player goal," said Burmistrov, whose second-period deflection padded the Vancouver lead. "Three guys went to the net and we got a good bounce on it."

The Canucks, who had lost three in a row, were playing the first of a five-stop road trip. The Senators, who were riding a three-game winning streak, were starting a five-game homestand.

"It's huge especially being on the road here," said Vanek, whose goal marked his 700th career point. "This is a team that's rebuilding, trying to learn how to win with a lot of newer faces, younger guys so (this win) is huge. You've got to win on the road to have success so against a very good structured Ottawa team, that's a big win."

After coming off their own three-game road trip to western Canada, the Senators were focused on having a good start.

"I feel we did that, and then we kind of took our foot off the pedal in the second," said defenseman Dion Phaneuf. "When you're chasing the game from behind, obviously we're not in the position we would have liked. I think we did a lot of good things early, but tonight they were a little more determined. they did more to win the game."

Senators coach Guy Boucher said his team, which had scored 12 goals in its previous two games, didn't do enough to create havoc in front of Nilsson.

"Their goalie played outstanding," Boucher said of the 6-foot-5 Nilsson. "He's a big man. We knew that he was probably going to stop all of our first shots, because of his size. We knew we had to work hard around him to get secondary chances and third chances. We didn't do enough of that, that's for sure."

NOTES: Canucks coach Travis Green said that F Loui Eriksson will miss 4-to-6 weeks with a knee sprain. ... Canucks F Jake Virtanen took Eriksson's place in the lineup. ... Canucks F Derek Dorsett played his 500th NHL game ... Even with Senators D Erik Karlsson returning to the lineup, coach Guy Boucher stuck with a seven-defensemen, 11-forward format. ... Senators C Logan Brown was a healthy scratch for the fifth time.