VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- The season is still young, but the Ottawa Senators have already worked a lot of overtime.

The Senators were finally rewarded for their extra efforts Tuesday when Mark Stone scored in the fifth round of a shootout to give Ottawa a 3-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks.

The Senators earned their first win of the season after losing their first two games in shootouts.

Ottawa goaltender Craig Anderson believed the odds were in his team's favor after the Senators outshot the Canucks 42-28.

"Eventually you're going to win one of those shootouts," said Anderson, who made 26 saves, then was beaten just once in the tiebreaking skills competition. "It's just a matter of statistics.

"I thought we did a great job. Another resilient effort by the guys being down a goal in the third (period) and finding a way to get a point and then taking care of business in the shootout."

Stone beat Canucks goaltender Jacob Markstrom with a wrist shot low on the blocker side. He had made some mental notes after watching Markstrom react on earlier shots by Bobby Ryan (a save) and Kyle Turris (a goal).

"You watch Bobby come in on the first shootout and I think he drops that right leg and then Turris goes in there and makes a great shot and he drops the leg again," Stone said. "So I said, 'May as well go and see if he is going to drop it a third time,' and fortunately he did."

Stone said the Senators didn't have a perfect game but played well enough to win.

"Obviously there was spurts we gave them chances," he said. "I thought we did a pretty good job of keeping it simple and dictating the play."

Ottawa coach Guy Boucher heaved a sigh of relief after the win.

"We could have won all our three games," he said. "That's why going into that shootout we needed something positive. We bounced back, we're a character team. We proved it all last year and again today. Our players stayed poised though adversity."

Senators center Ryan Dzingel forced overtime when he tied the game at 5:09 of the third period. Cody Ceci scored Ottawa's other goal early in the first period.

Thomas Vanek scored for the Canucks and played a role in Chris Tanev's goal. Henrik Sedin had two assists for Vancouver (1-0-1).

It was a special night for Ottawa's Alex Burrows, who was traded to the Senators at last year's deadline after playing 12 years in Vancouver. Burrows waved to the crowd, which gave him a standing ovation during a first-period video tribute.

"It was really special," Burrows said. "I didn't know how I was going to react to the ovation and the video. It was great. I had a lot fun tonight, even happier with the win."

Vancouver's Sven Baertschi had the best chance in the three-on-three overtime but was stopped on a breakaway by Anderson.

Tanev said it was a game the Canucks easily could have won.

"We are going 2-1 into the third, you want to get those two points," he said. "They are big down the stretch of the season. ... We'll learn and move on."

Sedin wasn't surprised Ottawa had 42 shots on net.

"They throw pucks from everywhere," he said. "I think that is going to be their shot total in a lot of games.

"They come on the wing and throw pucks at the net. There's not a lot of criss-crosses or drop passes. Just two guys driving and put the puck there and see what happens."

For the second consecutive game, Markstrom gave up an easy goal early in the first period to put the Canucks down 1-0.

Ceci scored at 4:08 when his innocent-looking shot from the faceoff circle hit Markstrom's glove then trickled into the net between his pads.

"My mistake," said Markstrom, who finished with 40 saves. "It was tough against a team like Ottawa. When you know it's going to be tight, you don't want to give them free goals.

"The team really bailed me out a couple of times here. You don't want that to become a habit."

NOTES: C Henrik Sedin helped set up Vancouver's first goal by banking the puck off the back of the Senators' cage. ... RW Brock Boeser, who led Vancouver with four goals and seven points in the exhibition season, was a healthy scratch for the second consecutive game. ... Other Canucks scratches were D Alex Biega and D Derrick Pouliot. ... Vancouver's homestand continues Thursday against Winnipeg. ... Ottawa went 0-for-4 on the power play and now are 0-16 on the season. ... Senators D Erik Karlsson missed his third straight game after June 14 foot surgery. ... Ottawa D Johnny Oduya missed his second game with a lower-body injury. ... Ottawa dressed seven defensemen. ... The Senators' road trip continues with games in Calgary on Friday and Edmonton on Saturday.