GAME RECAP: Oilers 4, Canucks 2

VANCOUVER, BC - The Oilers made it six wins in-a-row, picking up the 4-2 victory over the Canucks in Vancouver on Saturday night.
Local product Ryan Nugent-Hopkins picked up a goal and two assists on the evening, while Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and Zach Hyman all also buried for the Oilers.
"You look at what Nugent-Hopkins is doing. You look at Hyman, you look at what Connor did there on the penalty kill. I said he's giving up some things in order to win, in order to make sure his quality of shift is where it needs to be," Head Coach Jay Woodcroft said about his leaders. "(Connor) is being asked to do a lot, and I thought it was a huge factor in us winning the game tonight."
Stuart Skinner started his first game since becoming a father, turning away 27 of 29 Canucks shots for his 13th victory of the season.
The Canucks saw goals by Andrei Kuzmenko and J.T. Miller on the evening, while Spencer Martin stopped 25 of 29 Oilers shots in the loss.
The Oilers will now head back home to take on the Columbus Blue Jackets on Wednesday and the Chicago Blackhawks next Saturday before the NHL All-Star break.

YOUR GAME-DAY ESSENTIALS

GAME DAY
Photo Gallery
Highlights
Look Back at the In-Game Blog
POST-GAME VIDEO
OILERS TODAY | Post-Game at VAN
POST-RAW | Coach Woodcroft
POST-RAW | Connor McDavid
POST-RAW | Zach Hyman
POST-RAW | Stuart Skinner
POST-GAME UPDATES
Inside The Oilers Blog

FIRST BLOOD

Was this game at Rogers Arena or Rogers Place?
Regardless of what building, it went into an uproar 1:26 into the contest after Connor McDavid was sprung in all alone on a breakaway. The Oilers captain used his quick hands to send the Canucks Spencer Martin sprawling, before lifting his 40th goal of the season over the goaltender to open the scoring.
The tally marks the fourth time that McDavid has reached the 40-goal plateau in his career and by far the fastest. The goal comes in McDavid's 48th game of the season, making him the fastest Oiler to reach that plateau not named Jari Kurri or Wayne Gretzky. Fittingly, the marker made McDavid the fastest NHL player to reach 40 goals since former Canuck Pavel Bure back in 1999-00. The Florida Panthers sniper finished the season with 58 goals in 74 games that season, while McDavid is currently on pace for 68 goals this year.
McDavid was far from done in the first period. With the Oilers gifted a power play courtesy of a Canucks too-many men call, the blue & Orange went right back on the attack. The Captain used his speed to put the Vancouver defence in peril, before sliding an inch perfect pass to Zach Hyman for the tap in gimme 8:31 into the first. The power-play marker was Hyman's 24th of the season - putting the 30-yar-old just three goals away from matching his career high of 27 set in his inaugural season in Oilers silks.
"I felt like I had a really strong year last year and felt good and felt really strong in the playoffs and I wanted to kind of just take it into this year," Hyman said about his solid start to the campaign. "I feel comfortable here."

SAVE OF THE GAME

Call it a Beau-ty of a save.
Stuart Skinner was making his first start since departing the Oilers back on Jan. 10 to witness the birth of his son Beau, and the new dad showed no signs of rust on the evening.
the 24-year-old was solid all night, but particularly on a massive save 3:22 into the second period. Vancouver was sprung on the 2-on-1 break, with rookie Vincent Desharnais left back to try and hold up the attack. Jack Studnicka managed to slide the puck by Desharnais's massive reach and onto the stick of Lane Pederson.
The Oilers goaltender put his newfound dad strength to good use, pushing off the far post to get across and stone Pederson on the cross-crease goal attempt. The recently named NHL All-Star made 27 saves on the night to give the Oilers the win.
"I felt felt pretty good. Felt a little rusty in the first. Kind of missed my post a couple of times, but that's normally what it feels like," Skinner said. "After making a couple of stops, I felt pretty good. Then going into the second period felt good, and then rest of the game, I just tried to grind it out."

KUZ OPERATOR

Despite the Canucks record this season, their offence has still operated at a high level and their quick strike ability was on display before the end of the second period.
First, puck moving defender Quinn Hughes hit Elias Petterson with the long stretch pass. The Canucks All-star quickly touched the puck to off-season addition Andrei Kuzmenko to send him in all alone on the breakaway. The Russian made no mistake, quickly deking on Stuart Skinner before firing a shot between his glove and body.
The goal was Kuzmenko's 19th of the year and 41st point. The 26-year-old is off to a strong first NHL campaign after signing with the Canucks from CSKA Moscow of the KHL in the offseason.
"They have a ton of skill players over there and when it's 3-0, they try to open it up and take risks and chances and they were able to catch us on a couple there," Hyman said. "I thought this happened to us early in the year and I thought this time we were able to nip it in the bud and catch it. It was a good win to keep things rolling for us."

BRUCE, THERE IT IS

The Oilers had looked to have taken a commanding 4-2 lead with 5:27 left in the game when an Evan Bouchard point shot bounced off a crease crashing Zach Hyman and in behind Spencer Martin.
Canucks bench boss Bruce Boudreau would use the coaches challenge believing Hyman bumped into the Canucks goaltender prior to the puck going into the net. Boudreau would win the challenge causing raucous 'Bruce, there it is' chants from the Rogers Arena fans.
The goal was just another of the many that Hyman has had waived off throughout the season.
"Because we kept track? Four or five, probably," Hyman said about how many goals he's had waived off. "I think I've won like one or two challenges but lost four or five."

PARTING WORDS

Coach Jay Woodcroft on the play of Zach Hyman:
"He's effort personified, so you know what you're getting every day he gets to the rink, whether it's a practice or a game. He's at a career pace. We're proud that he's finding his stride in Edmonton. I think he makes us a better team. I used the term to describe him before as easy to play with but hard to play against. I think that sums him up perfectly."
Woodcroft on McDavid being the fastest to 40 goals since Pavel Bure:
"I never saw Pavel Bure up close, but I think his speed was a huge factor in his ability to score goals and dominate the way he did. I think Connor is his own unique player. He's the player of his generation, and what we're seeing is special. What I really enjoyed seeing was how he dug in on those penalty kills at the end of the game. And he's serious about winning. And I think that resonates in what he's willing to sacrifice in order to win."
Connor McDavid on why the Oilers have won six in-a-row:
"I think depth. I think we're showing a lot of good depth. We're getting contributions from everybody, whether it's on the score sheet or playing physical, or blocking a shot, or being solid defensively. I think we're getting contributions up and down the lineup and then a little maturity. We found ourselves in some tight games and finding a way to close them out, and that's a big part of the part of winning."

Stuart Skinner on the quick Canucks chance helping him get into the game:
"Definitely. Kind of gets your mental game and also your body kind of rolling. Obviously makes you feel good too, when you make the first couple of stops. Give credit to Vancouver. They came out hot. I mean, the first 10 minutes they're flying in our zone and kind of kept on hemming us in there and I thought we did a good job in how we handled it."
Skinner on Mike Smith being at the game tonight:
"I heard he was coming in watching the game tonight, so I was trying to do my best to puck handle like him. That's what I was saying anyways. I don't know if I did a good job. Like, we're at his standards. He's obviously one of the best in the game, so probably not to his standards, but it was okay."
Skinner on McDavid's early goal:
"When Dav-o gets that opportunity and he scores, I think it's just a huge shift into the game. They're obviously on us for that whole time, and then we got kind of one break and we scored, and that kind of changes momentum of the game. It was obviously nice to see and have the lead, but at the same time, no matter what, it's all zeroes In my mind."
Zach Hyman on if he thought he could be this good an offensive player when he joined the NHL:
"I don't know. I don't think you look too far ahead. For me, when I came to the league, it was 'how am I going to stick in the league?' and 'how am I going to be an everyday player?' Then every year you try to kind of add elements and change. You don't go from 28 points or whatever my first year was to now overnight. You got to work at it and there's still a lot of season left. So just for me, every level I've been at, I tried to work at my game and try to learn the game as it changes."