A pair of power-play goals lifted the visiting Edmonton Oilers to a 2-1 win over the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday night at Rogers Arena.
Warren Foegele and Leon Draisaitl scored for the Oilers (6-1-0), who went 2 for 2 with the man advantage.
Brock Boeser scored the only goal for Vancouver (3-5-1), with seven seconds left in the third period.
Mikko Koskinen made his fourth-straight start for Edmonton with Mike Smith sidelined due to a lower-body injury. He stopped 29 shots.
Thatcher Demko made 32 saves for the Canucks.
Connor McDavid had one assist and nine shots on goal. Conor Garland led the way with six shots for Vancouver.
At full strength, the game was largely a defensive battle, with limited scoring chances for both sides.
With the best power play in the NHL, the Oilers opened the scoring at 11:39 of the first, after Tyler Myers was whistled for hooking Edmonton’s Jesse Puljujarvi. With one second left in the man advantage, Foegele deposited a rebound off a shot by Darnell Nurse past an outstretched Demko for his second goal of the year.
Draisaitl tallied his fifth of the campaign with 40 seconds remaining in the second. With Oliver Ekman-Larsson in the penalty box, Draisaitl beat Demko with a one-timer from the right circle, set up by Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and McDavid, who started the play by bouncing a shot off the shin of defender Luke Schenn.
Schenn played his 800th career NHL game for Vancouver.
The Canucks did not get a power-play opportunity until late in the third period, when they were pressing with Demko on the bench for the extra attacker. Koskinen’s two best saves of the night came while the Canucks pressed hard with the 6-on-4 advantage before Boeser beat him in the final seconds of the game.
Brock Boeser scores 100th career goal in loss to the Oilers.@BudweiserCanada HIGHLIGHTS | https://t.co/dKqymtAlZj pic.twitter.com/dxuVhONJCg
— Vancouver #Canucks (@Canucks) October 31, 2021
The Canucks are winless this season at Rogers Arena and have scored just four goals in total during three losses in their season-opening seven-game homestand.
Edmonton was held to two goals in regulation for just the second time this season.
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Coming into Saturday’s action, McDavid was tied for the NHL scoring lead with 15 points in six games, and at least two points in every game so far this season. Against Vancouver, he was limited to one assist, while he and Nugent-Hopkins both extended their season-opening point streaks to seven games.
Early in the third period, Demko denied McDavid on three quick close-in shots from the goalmouth.
The Oilers return home to host the Seattle Kraken for the first time on Monday, while the Canucks host the New York Rangers on Tuesday.
NOTES: It was the second meeting between the Oilers and Canucks this season. On Oct. 13, Edmonton beat Vancouver 3-2 in a shootout in both teams’ season opener … Edmonton held a 6-4-0 edge in last year’s North Division season series … The Oilers and Canucks both lost to the Philadelphia Flyers in their last games. It was Edmonton’s first defeat of the year … Jason Dickinson and Tucker Poolman drew back into the Vancouver lineup after missing Thursday’s game with injury.
THE CANADIAN PRESS
