Oilers at Canucks preview

OILERS (34-37-6) at CANUCKS (28-40-9)
10 p.m. ET; SN1, SNE, SNO, SNP, NHL.TV

McDavid scored his 40th goal of the season and had two assists in the Oilers' 7-3 loss against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday, and his 102 points are the most in the NHL, six points ahead of Tampa Bay Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov, who has 96 (38 goals, 58 assists).
McDavid, who led the League in scoring with 100 points (30 goals, 70 assists) last season, became the seventh player in NHL history to have multiple 100-point seasons before his 22nd birthday; he joined Wayne Gretzky (four), Dale Hawerchuk (three), Mario Lemieux (three), Sidney Crosby (three), Jimmy Carson (two) and Joe Sakic (two).
The Oilers, 3-1-1 in their past five games and 7-3-2 in their past 12, were eliminated from Stanley Cup Playoff contention Thursday.
Forward Adam Gaudette is expected to make his NHL debut for the Canucks, who are 3-1-0 in their past four games after a seven-game losing streak and were eliminated from playoff contention on March 14. Gaudette, who signed with Vancouver on Monday, led the NCAA in goals (30) and points (60) in 38 games for Northeastern University this season. He is a finalist for the Hobey Baker Award, given to the best player in NCAA hockey.

Players to watch

McDavid has 13 points (six goals, seven assists) in a five-game point streak, and 36 points (17 goals, 19 assists) in his past 20 games.
Canucks goaltender Jacob Markstrom is 3-0-0 with a 1.33 goals-against average and.958 save percentage in his past three starts.

They said it

"We're just trying to build momentum heading into summer and try to carry it over to next year. These games do matter and are important to us." -- Oilers center Connor McDavid
"Dream come true and can't wait to go." -- Canucks forward Adam Gaudette, who will make his NHL debut Thursday after signing a three-year entry-level contract Monday

Oilers projected lineup

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins -- Connor McDavid -- Ty Rattie
Drake Caggiula -- Leon Draisaitl -- Pontus Aberg
Milan Lucic -- Ryan Strome -- Jesse Puljujarvi
Iiro Pakarinen -- Jujhar Khaira -- Zack Kassian
Darnell Nurse -- Adam Larsson
Kris Russell -- Andrej Sekera
Yohann Auvitu -- Matt Benning
Cam Talbot
Al Montoya
Scratched:Anton Slepyshev, Ethan Bear
Injured:Oscar Klefbom (shoulder), Michael Cammalleri (undisclosed)

Canucks projected lineup

Nikolay Goldobin -- Bo Horvat -- Jussi Jokinen
Daniel Sedin -- Henrik Sedin -- Sam Gagner
Darren Archibald -- Brandon Sutter - Tyler Motte
Reid Boucher --
Adam Gaudette
-- Jake Virtanen
Alexander Edler -- Troy Stecher
Michael Del Zotto -- Derrick Pouliot
Ashton Sautner -- Alex Biega
Jacob Markstrom
Anders Nilsson
Scratched:Nic Dowd
Injured: Chris Tanev (knee), Brock Boeser (back), Loui Eriksson (rib), Markus Granlund (ankle), Erik Gudbranson (shoulder), Ben Hutton (foot), Sven Baertschi (shoulder), Brendan Gaunce (foot), Brendan Leipsic (neck)

Status report

Montoya will dress as the backup after missing the past two games with an undisclosed injury, so Laurent Brossoit was sent back to Bakersfield of the American Hockey League. … Gaunce, out since Feb. 6, could return.

Stat pack

Nugent-Hopkins has 12 points (five goals, seven assists) in his past 10 games on a line with McDavid. … Gagner has five points (two goals, three assists) in his past six games.