GAME STORY: Canucks 4, Oilers 1

EDMONTON, AB - Matthew Highmore had a pair of goals as Vancouver scored four unanswered on Saturday at Rogers Place to end the Oilers regular season with a 4-1 defeat.

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FIRST BLOOD

Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl extended their respective point streaks to eight games but it was Adam Larsson with the goal to open the scoring on Saturday with his fourth of the season to tie a career high. Draisaitl dropped a pass down to McDavid on the right half-wall and the captain found Larsson at the point for a blistering one-timer that beat Vancouver goalie Thatcher Demko on the glove side with Jesse Puljujarvi providing a screen.

PLAY OF THE GAME

Trailing 1-0 after 20 minutes and facing an Oilers power play early in the middle frame, the Canucks capitalized on a deflected Edmonton pass and stormed in on a shorthanded two-on-one rush, with Tanner Pearson setting up Bo Horvat for his 18th of the season. Pearson made a perfect backhand pass to Horvat streaking to the net and Vancouver's captain made no mistake, stopping on a dime and finishing with the forehand to even the score.

SAVE OF THE GAME

Midway through an Oilers power play in the latter stages of the second period, McDavid made a brilliant saucer pass from the high slot to Alex Chiasson for a one-timer on the doorstep, but Demko lunged across his crease and stuck out his right pad to make an incredible save, with the puck mere millimeters from crossing the goal line, to keep the score 1-1 heading into intermission.

TURNING POINT

Just seconds after Draisaitl was unable to convert on a breakaway opportunity, the Canucks went right back the other way and tallied the go-ahead goal as J.T. Miller set up Highmore for a wrist shot that beat Mikko Koskinen high on the glove side at 9:13 of the third period. Travis Boyd made it 3-1 just 16 seconds later as Vancouver struck again immediately after the ensuing faceoff.

TOP PERFORMER

Demko's incredible pad save on Chiasson was one of many highlight-reel denials by the Vancouver goalie as he finished with 31 saves. He stopped both McDavid and Draisaitl from scoring on breakaways and also made a glorious glove save on Ryan Nugent-Hopkins on a clean shot from the slot.

FACT CHECK

With his first period goal, Larsson became the 13th different Oilers player to score this year with an assist from McDavid, who finishes the regular season with 72 helpers and 105 total points to capture his third Art Ross Trophy as the NHL's leading scorer in the last five years.
McDavid's 1.88 points per game is the highest total since the 1996-97 season, surpassing Mario Lemieux's 1.77 in 2000-01. Sidney Crosby had the best average in the last 20 years at 1.61 in 2010-11.

NEXT UP

We're playing for keeps starting Wednesday. The Oilers and Winnipeg Jets will open their North Division semifinal series to begin the 2021 Stanley Cup Playoffs with Game 1 on Wednesday at Rogers Place, followed by Game 2 on Friday also in Edmonton. The series will then shift to Manitoba for Game 3 and Game 4 the following Sunday and Monday.

PARTING WORDS

"You don't know how much you miss that game-day routine," Slater Koekkoek said of his return to the lineup after being out since Feb. 20 with a collarbone injury. "That nervousness, that anxiousness to play. You wake up in the morning, you get those butterflies going. Just a real blessing to be out there and back in the mix."

"It would have been nice to end on a high note, but we've had a great season and now the important stuff starts," Tyson Barrie said of the regular season finale, as he finished the campaign with 48 points to lead all NHL defencemen. "It's nice to get that one out of the way."
"That game was a win if nobody got hurt, and nobody got hurt so we're taking a win," Head Coach Dave Tippett said of Saturday's matchup that had no implications on the standings or playoff positioning. "It was a game that had no meaning to it from our side, so we got through it fine."
"Our players recognize that there's a lot of work ahead," Tippett said of the upcoming first-round series against Winnipeg starting on Wednesday. "You earn the right to be a playoff team and we've done good work this year. We've earned the right to be in there and now we have to take another step. Our team has to be at its best come Wednesday."