Canucks extend point streak to 8, defeat struggling Oilers

VANCOUVER -- Quinn Hughes had a goal and three assists for the Vancouver Canucks, who extended their point streak to eight games with a 6-2 win against the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Arena on Monday.

Brock Boeser scored two goals, J.T. Miller had a goal and an assist, and Filip Hronek had two assists for the Canucks (9-2-1), who are 7-0-1 during the streak and have outscored the Oilers 18-6 in their three games this season (3-0-0).

“We're just playing really good hockey collectively,” Hughes said.

“We know them very well, and to beat them three times within 12 games to start the year, it's huge. And to go 14 points up on them (in the Pacific Division), it's a little early to be looking at stuff like that, but we were in that position the last couple years, and it's hard to get back.”

Thatcher Demko made 40 saves, including 19 in the first period.

“Demko is like a smelling salt,” Vancouver coach Rick Tocchet said. “We woke up after he made about five, six, seven unreal saves, and then we started kind of to wake up.”

Mattias Ekholm and Leon Draisaitl scored, and Stuart Skinner made 30 saves for the Oilers (2-8-1), who have lost three in a row and seven of their past eight (1-6-1).

“Obviously frustrating,” Oilers captain Connor McDavid said. “I felt like we did a lot of good things in the first period and found ourselves down and chasing things.”

Edmonton, which mixed up its forward lines, controlled the play early and went ahead 1-0 at 6:42 of the first period when Ekholm scored a power-play goal with a slap shot from the left face-off dot after Sam Gagner swatted the puck out from below the goal line.

At the time of the goal, the Oilers were outshooting the Canucks 14-2.

Hughes, though, tied it 1-1 at 11:30 of the first when his backdoor pass for Ilya Mikheyev deflected in off the stick of Oilers defenseman Vincent Desharnais.

Pius Suter gave the Canucks a 2-1 lead at 13:22, scoring with a wrist shot from the high slot that went under Skinner’s right arm. It was Suter’s third straight game with a goal after he failed to score in the first nine games this season.

Boeser made it 3-1 at 14:52 with a power-play goal. He scored on a rebound in front after Miller's initial shot hit him in front.

“Right now, it just feels like whatever we do, the last two or three games we’ve had great starts, and for whatever reason, we find ourselves in a deficit going into the intermission,” Ekholm said. “It’s frustrating. I don’t know if you can play a better 15 minutes."

Draisaitl scored his first goal in eight games to cut it to 3-2 at 7:38 of the second period. Demko came out of his crease and tried to leave the puck behind the net for Mark Friedman, but he was knocked down by Dylan Holloway and had the puck picked up instead by Warren Foegele, who passed out front to Draisaitl for a shot into an open net.

Nils Hoglander responded for Vancouver to make it 4-2 at 10:52, scoring on a rebound in the slot on a rush.

“I think I can do a lot better to help my team out,” Skinner said. “I'm the goalie and my job is to stop pucks, and I let in six.”

Foegele appeared to cut the lead for Edmonton at 1:00 of the third period, but the call was overturned after a video review determined he kicked the puck into the net.

Miller pushed it to 5-2 with a one-timer on a power play at 7:51, and Boeser scored another power-play goal at 19:04 for the 6-2 final.

Boeser has scored 10 goals this season, which is second in the NHL.

“It's going well, but when my line is matched up against the other top line, that's our main goal. We take a lot of pride in that,” Boeser said. “That's kind of all I was worried about, and it's always nice to contribute and help the team win.”

NOTES: Canucks forward Elias Pettersson had an assist and leads the NHL with 21 points (six goals, 15 assists) in 12 games this season. … Hronek has 10 assists during a seven-game point streak. ... Vancouver was 3-for-6 on the power play. Edmonton was 1-for-3. ... McDavid was held without a point for the second time this season.