GAME RECAP: Oilers 7, Canucks 3

VANCOUVER, BC – In the building where they eliminated the Vancouver Canucks in Game 7 of the 2024 Second Round, the Oilers reached seven goals on Saturday night to earn themselves a massive victory over their Pacific Division rivals.

"It was a step in the right direction," Connor McDavid said. "It's not an easy building to win in against a team that we've got lots of history with, and this was a great win. Hopefully, it's something we can build on."

The Oilers led the Canucks 3-2 through 40 minutes before exploding for four goals over a 4:55 span of the third period, receiving a pair of tallies from Connor Brown and markers from Brett Kulak and Connor McDavid to complete a 7-3 victory over Vancouver on Hockey Night in Canada that brings their overall record back up to .500 this season at 7-7-1.

"It was a solid effort by our group, but the main thing is that third period and how we showed composure and poise," Brown said. "In the third, we made plays with the lead and piled on."

McDavid and Kulak each contributed a goal and two assists, while forward Mattias Janmark played provider with three helpers in the victory. Leon Draisaitl also had a goal and assist, while Zach Hyman contributed two helpers to reach 200 career assists after the Oilers had six different players record multi-point nights.

Corey Perry and Viktor Arvidsson added goals in the second period to round out the scoring for the Blue & Orange as two of the 12 different Oilers skaters who found the scoresheet against the Canucks on Saturday.

Edmonton chased goaltender Kevin Lankinen from the Canucks' in the third period, ending his night after allowing seven goals on 27 shots, while Stuart Skinner was able to hold down the victory for the Oilers with 17 saves.

Edmonton returns home to host the New York Islanders at Rogers Place in the first game of a two-game homestand on Tuesday.

"Every time you play a team where there's a little bit of a rivalry and you find a way to get a win, especially in their building, it's always big for momentum and the guys should feel good about themselves and head into a big week," McDavid said.

FIRST PERIOD

Keep plugging away on the power play and it's going to come.

The Oilers opened the scoring in the opening minutes on Saturday night when Connor McDavid was manhandled by Canucks captain Quinn Hughes in the offensive zone to earn his side their first power play in the game's early going. It might not have gone down as a PPG, but there were plenty of encouraging signs for the Blue & Orange that inevitably led to Leon Draisaitl scoring four seconds after the man advantage expired.

"The power play doesn't get credit for a power-play goal in the first one, but it's pretty much a power-play goal," McDavid said. "We want to contribute in games and contribute to wins. We've done that for years and years, and I would expect that it'll get going."

With time expiring on the power play, Leon Draisaitl kept a play alive along the boards in Vancouver's end with a through-the-legs dangle of Nils Aman after he originally fanned on a cross-ice pass, leading to the German pushing the puck up to Mattias Ekholm at the blueline before it was worked down low to McDavid.

The Oilers captain forced the puck toward Vancouver's goal, trying to walk in and deliver it past goaltender Kevin Lankinen while Zach Hyman was parked in front of the crease. When Hyman pushed it wide by getting a piece to it as he fell to the ice, Draisaitl was in the right place near the side of Vancouver's net to pull it back in front and flip it over the outstretched left pad of Lankinen to give the Oilers a 1-0 lead.

Draisaitl is the first Oiler to hit double digits for goals in 2024-25 and has now recorded at least a point in 22 of his last 23 regular season games versus the Canucks. McDavid, meanwhile, has at least a point in 18 of his last 19 games against Vancouver after picking up an assist on Draisaitl's 10th of the season, while Hyman's primary helper was his 199th career assist.

Stuart Skinner made seven saves in the first period to help the Oilers keep their 1-0 lead through 20 minutes, with three of those important stops coming with the glove.

SECOND PERIOD

There was something oddly familiar about how that middle frame unfolded.

It's hard not to remember these two rivals' incredible second-round series from the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs, which ended with an Oilers victory in Game 7 after they held on in the third period against a late surge from the Canucks.

The Oilers found themselves with a similar 3-0 lead on Saturday night, but in similar fashion to last season’s elimination match on the West Coast, the Canucks came back with two quick strikes to call upon Oilers Head Coach Kris Knoblauch to take his timeout and settle his group down.

"There was a lot more stress on that one," Knoblauch admitted of his decision last playoffs to take the timeout. "There was a lot more going on there with that time out than there was in this one."

Early in the period, Edmonton’s fourth line orchestrated a beautiful tic-tac-toe passing play on a failed clearance from the Canucks. Derek Ryan reached for the attempted clearance and brought it down to his stick, moving it across the slot to Mattias Janmark for the Swede to set up Corey Perry for an easy tap-in at the back post with three-and-a-half minutes gone in the second period.

The assist was Ryan’s first point of the season, ending a 14-game pointless streak, while Janmark’s assist was also the 199^th of his career, similar to Hyman’s helper on Draisaitl’s opening goal in the first period. Corey Perry now has three goals on the season, and two in his last six games.

Only 1:14 later, it was Viktor Arvidsson who took a lay-off pass from Draisaitl as he followed up his linemate's zone entry before the forward skated back towards the slot and placed his shot low blocker on Lankinen, scoring his second goal of the season to give the Oilers a 3-0 advantage.

But don’t you forget about the Canucks.

Elias Pettersson scored only 18 seconds later on a perfectly-placed deflection before the Canucks pulled to within a goal soon after on the power play through Filip Hronek, who beat Skinner top shelf from between the circles to make it 3-2 with 13 minutes remaining in the second period.

Despite conceding the two goals, Stuart Skinner made a few quiet contributions with some timely saves while his team's backs were against the wall. The netminder didn't have the most eye-popping stat line with only 17 saves on 20 shots, but the Edmonton product was able to notch his 76th career win on Saturday to tie Curtis Joseph for the eighth most wins in franchise history.

"He was good, especially with some key saves in the second period when they had their push," Knoblauch said. "Sometimes, you look at the stats and they can be misleading. A goalscorer can get a few goals and have a terrible game, but for goalies, it might be an easy night, but if you look at the stats tonight with three goals allowed, it doesn't look that good. But he made a lot of key saves."

Coach Knoblauch took the opportunity to use Edmonton’s timeout and settle his group down, which appeared to work as his side got their 3-2 advantage into the second intermission.

When it came time for the third period, it was all the Blue & Orange the rest of the way.

"It's tough to decide when to use it, but after the next whistle, there was going to be a two-minute timeout," Knoblauch said. "So we weren't sure if we wanted to salvage that timeout because we might've needed it later, but I think the way things had been going, we just needed to reset, refocus and have a little message for the players to get back to work."

THIRD PERIOD

The Oilers were due for a major offensive outburst as one of the NHL's most unlucky teams through their opening 14 games of the season with the 30th-ranked goals for in the NHL (2.34) despite having the second-best average shot attempts (66.7) and average shots on goal (33.7).

A hard-working goal around the Canucks' crease that was put in by Connor Brown ended up opening the floodgates for the Oilers, who scored four times over the next 4:55 to run up the score on their Pacific Division rivals near the midway mark of the final frame.

"Brownie's been playing really well and he's been simplifying his game, and he's been shooting a lot more shots from the perimeter," Knoblauch added. "Those shots like tonight don't necessarily go in very often, but they do force the goalie to make a save and it also creates a little chaos, a little rebound chance or something like that. He's been doing the last week or so, where he's been playing pretty good hockey."

Almost a minute later, Connor McDavid drew his own penalty and put away the power-play goal only 10 seconds into the man advantage, tapping home the rebound that came off a smart deflection from Hyman in front for the winger to reach 200 career assists.

"Glen [Gulutzan] and I were talking on the bench about this is the time we needed a goal," Knoblauch said. "If we scored there, we feel the game is sealed and they came out and executed right away with that goal."

Following McDavid's marker, the Canucks began to lose their composure – particularly in goal where Lankinen was having trouble making saves after giving up two quick goals to the Oilers.

Brett Kulak let go of a wrist shot in the left circle that was put onto his tape by McDavid before his effort caught a piece of a Canucks defenceman's stick on its way through for the 6-2 lead with 11:52 remaining.

Three minutes later, another shot from Connor Brown found its way past Lankinen to end his night, with the Oilers leading 7-2 and over half of the third period remaining.

"I think I've been getting lots of scoring chances in and around the net night in, night out, so it's nice to see a few fall," Brown said.

The Canucks added a late power-play goal from Pius Suter, but the damage had already been done by Edmonton to give them a huge victory over their Pacific Division rivals.