Thank you, and so long Vancouver Canucks.
On Thursday evening, the Edmonton Oilers hosted their Pacific Division rivals in the final matchup between the two teams this season. Without captain Connor McDavid in the lineup, how would the home team respond?
The Oilers were dropped by the Canucks 3-2 in a frustrating loss on Saturday but they got back at Vancouver by hammering them by a score of 6-2 on Thursday.
Edmonton opened the scoring about six minutes into the game. Leon Draisaitl set up Zach Hyman with a beautiful backhand from the Oilers’ trapezoid, and Hyman made no mistake all alone for his 16th goal of the season.
With about five minutes left in the first period, the Oilers had a power play, and Draisaitl scored his league-leading 35th goal of the season by slamming home a pass from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins at the very end of a power play opportunity.
About 20 seconds later, Adam Henrique received a nice pass from Mattias Ekholm behind the net and beat Thatcher Demko to the right post to wrap it behind him, giving the Oilers a 3-0 lead.
Firmly in the lead, the Oilers decided to continue the beatdown early in the second period, as Noah Philp picked up his second career point by passing to the slot, with Hyman deflecting it past Demko for his second of the game.
With about eight minutes left, the Oilers were on a power play. For some reason, the Canucks left Ryan Nugent-Hopkins all alone in the slot, with him beating Demko for his 13th goal of the season.
The Canucks scored twice before the end of the second period, but who cares about them? Here’s Kasperi Kapnen beating Quinn Hughes with speed and scoring on his rebound for a 6-2 lead.
Takeaways…
It’s been a while since I’ve used “Oilersnation’s player of the game”, but Corey Perry absolutely deserves that award. Did he score? Nope. Did he even pick up a point? Yes, one assist. However, he let the Canucks know that if this game boiled over, he’ll be going after Quinn Hughes by dumping him in a second-period scrum. In the third period, the Canucks would’ve had a power play in a 5-2 game, but he baited Teddy Blueger into taking a penalty. Just a masterclass of being a thorn in their side.
Leon Draisaitl is the clear Hart Memorial Trophy winner, as he picked up his 35th goal of the season. Without McDavid in the lineup, he has five goals and 11 points in five games. He’s moved to within one point of Nathan MacKinnon for the point lead, leads the Maurice Rocket Richard race by seven goals, and is even near the top of the +/- stat, so it won’t be surprising if he gets a Selke vote or two.
There was only one real scrum in this game after Conor Garland poked at a covered puck. That led to a scrum behind the Oilers net where Perry dropped Hughes, Other than that, there weren’t many post-whistle festivities.
Edmonton’s power play had a much better day Thursday, as they scored two of their four opportunities. Moreover, they didn’t give the Canucks a power play, as the only chance the Canucks would’ve had, Blueger blew it. They did take four coincidental minors, though.
The Oilers and Canucks won’t meet again this season, which is a bit of a shame. I’d say that they’d have a shot at meeting in the postseason, but with a Flames win on Thursday, they’ve moved to three points ahead of the Canucks. It’s hilarious how much they’ve fallen off.
Edmonton returns to action on Saturday in a matinee against the Buffalo Sabres at 2:00 PM MST. With a Vegas Golden Knights win, the Oilers are still one point back of the Pacific Division lead.
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