McDavid, Draisaitl reach 50 points, Oilers defeat Canucks

VANCOUVER -- Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl each reached 50 points, and the Edmonton Oilers split a home-and-home series against the Vancouver Canucks with a 3-2 win at Rogers Arena on Sunday.

McDavid had two assists and has 51 points (19 goals, 32 assists); Draisaitl scored his second power-play goal of the game 46 seconds into the third period to reach 50 points (18 goals, 32 assists).
They are the first set of teammates since 1995-96 to have 50 points each 29 games into a season (Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr and Ron Francis with the Pittsburgh Penguins, 1995-96).
"They make stuff happen out there," said Oilers coach Dave Tippett, who split McDavid and Draisaitl up with regular linemate Zack Kassian out because of a back injury. "They both were really good tonight. Connor really had his legs tonight and playing them on opposite lines we asked them to carry some guys with them, and they did."
WATCH: [All Oilers vs. Canucks highlights]
Josh Archibald, who played on McDavid's line, also scored, Alex Chiasson had two assists, and Mikko Koskinen made 30 saves for Edmonton (17-9-3), which bounced back from a 5-2 loss to the Canucks on Saturday and avoided its first three-game losing streak of the season.
"Not a pretty game, not a pretty win, but no one is going to ask how we won this game at the end of the day," Draisaitl said. "It was a gritty effort throughout the lineup."
Draisaitl, who was held without a point Saturday for the fifth time this season, one-timed a pass from McDavid from outside the right face-off dot to tie it 2-2 at 13:51 of the second period.

His 50th point gave the Oilers a 3-2 lead in the opening minute of the third period after a nice passing play from Chiasson and James Neal across the ice left Draisaitl with an open net. But Draisaitl was more focused on Edmonton's tight defensive play, especially after taking the lead early in the third period.
"We shut them down," he said. "We kept playing forward, we kept pushing pucks forward and we played in their end."
Brock Boeser and Josh Leivo scored, and Jacob Markstrom made 25 saves for Vancouver (13-11-4), which opened a five-game homestand after a season-long six-game road trip. The Canucks are 1-3-0 in their past four.
"It's a frustrating one," Vancouver captain Bo Horvat said. "I thought we played really well after coming off a really tough road trip. A lot of travel and not a lot of sleep, so for us to play like we did tonight, we did a lot of good things. The power play was the difference."

The Canucks were without defenseman Alexander Edler, who is expected to miss at least one more game with an upper-body injury sustained in Edmonton on Saturday. After keeping the Oilers' No. 2 ranked power play from scoring Saturday, it converted both chances Sunday.
"It's one of the best in the League," Leivo said. "That was a long road trip and to finish on a back-to-back, the team battled hard and showed a lot of effort."
Archibald scored his first goal of the season in his 20th game at 9:09 of the first period to put the Oilers ahead 1-0. McDavid had the secondary assist for his 50th point of the season.
"He plays hard, he's quick, he's been snake-bit a little bit," Tippett said of placing Archibald on McDavid's line. "It's funny, (assistant coach) Jim Playfair said before the game, 'I'm betting on [Archibald] getting his first tonight,' so it was good to see.
"Playing [Saturday] night, we wanted to play four lines tonight, just spread it around and with our injury situation we're just plugging guys in, and I was happy to see him get on the board tonight."

The Canucks tied it 1-1 at 15:34 of the first period when Boeser scored on a tap-in from atop the crease.
Leivo gave Vancouver a 2-1 lead at 12:06 of the second.
"I thought we played really well back-to-back after a long road trip and dominated most of the game," Canucks defenseman Chirstopher Tanev said. "We have to get the kills to make a difference."

They said it

"I like the way we dug in. Our guys competed hard, our goaltender was good, our big guys really played well tonight." -- Oilers coach Dave Tippett
"Five-on-5, I thought we were pretty good, we didn't give up a lot; neither team did. Their power play was the difference." -- Canucks coach Travis Green

Need to know

The Oilers recalled goalie Stuart Skinner from Bakersfield of the American Hockey League after Mike Smith sustained a leg injury Saturday. … Edmonton defenseman Kris Russell left the team to be with his wife for the birth of their second child. … Canucks forward Tyler Graovac sustained a lower-body in the first period and is "going to be out for a while," Green said. … Vancouver recalled defenseman Jalen Chatfield from Utica of the AHL before the game.

What's next

Oilers: Host the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday (9:30 p.m. ET; TVAS, SNW, SNOL, TSN5, NHL.TV)
Canucks: Host the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday (10 p.m. ET; SNP, TSN5, RDS, NHL.TV)