Oilers defeat Canucks for fourth straight win

EDMONTON -- Leon Draisaitl extended his point streak to 12 games for the Edmonton Oilers in their season-high fourth straight win, 3-2 against the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Place on Thursday.

Alex Chiasson, Zack Kassian and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored, and Connor McDavid had two assists for Edmonton (30-30-7), which is seven points behind the Minnesota Wild for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. Mikko Koskinen made 35 saves for his 20th win of the season.
"It probably wasn't our best 60 minutes, but guys that have been around in this league for a long time understand that sometimes you have to find a way to get two points," Chiasson said. "It seems like we've been able to do that lately. Obviously, our goaltending has been key. We were able to get off to a good start at home, something that we haven't done in the past."
WATCH: [All Canucks vs. Oilers highlights]
Jay Beagle and Alexander Edler scored, and Thatcher Demko made 31 saves for Vancouver (28-31-9), which is nine points behind Minnesota.
The Canucks fell behind 3-0 in the second game of a back-to-back after defeating the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-2 in overtime in Vancouver on Wednesday.
"We have to make sure that we don't allow ourselves to get down one or two in a game," Beagle said. "We have a lot of resiliency and a lot of heart and have a lot of guys who don't quit. But when you go down by three, it is tough, especially on a back-to-back on the road. We showed a lot of heart in never quitting."
Chiasson scored at 5:21 of the first period to give the Oilers a 1-0 lead. Kassian made it 2-0 at 14:07 when he tapped in centering pass from McDavid at the top of the crease.
"Any smart player knows to get [McDavid] the puck early, and that's what [Kassian] does," Edmonton coach Ken Hitchcock said. "He gets him the puck early, so he knows by the time he counts to four, it should be in Connor's hands. And he's really smart that way. That's an easy thing to say but a hard thing to do because you have all this space in front of you and you want to carry it, but he knows right now to give it up and knows that if he gives it up, he's going to get it back and be in good spots like he did on the goal."
Draisaitl had an assist on Kassian's goal and has nine goals and nine assists during the longest active point streak in the NHL.

Nugent-Hopkins redirected a pass from McDavid at 1:02 of the second period to make it 3-0.
Beagle scored to make it 3-1 at 18:30 after Koskinen misplayed a long shot from Brock Boeser. Koskinen tried to sweep away Boeser's shot, but the puck slipped under his pad and sat in the crease, where Beagle poked it into the open net.
"Vancouver just keeps going, they never really quit," McDavid said. "Even up three, they never seem to quit and they find ways to get a little bounce here or there, and all of sudden, they're back in the game. They're a dangerous team that way."
Edler scored through a screen on the power play at 7:03 of the third period to make it 3-2. Hitchcock challenged for goaltender interference by Canucks forward Bo Horvat, but the goal was upheld after video review.
"I didn't mind our game," Vancouver coach Travis Green said. "I didn't like our start. I didn't think we had our feet going. It took us a little while to get skating. We had an emotional game last night, and I was a little worried about our start tonight. We weren't quite sharp. We found our game and made a late push, but it wasn't good enough."

They said it

"Going down 3-0 is obviously not ideal, but at that point, I just wanted to give the guys a chance to claw their way back into it." -- Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko
"He made some big saves for us tonight. I'm sure he would have liked to have that first one back, but I'm sure that's what being a team is all about. You pick him up when he's down, and he picks us up when we make a mistake." -- Oilers captain Connor McDavid on goalie Mikko Koskinen

Need to know

McDavid got his 60th and 61st assists of the season. After he had 70 assists in 2016-17 and 67 last season, McDavid and San Jose Sharks center Joe Thornton (2005-2010) are the only active NHL players with 60 or more assists in at least three consecutive seasons. … The Canucks have scored two or fewer goals in nine of their past 12 games, including three shutouts. … Edler played his 800th NHL game, all with Vancouver.

What's next

Canucks: Host the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday (10 p.m. ET; ESPN+, CBC, SN, SN1, CITY, ATTSN-RM, NHL.TV)
Oilers: Host the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; NHLN, CBC, SN, NHL.TV)