GAME RECAP: Oilers 6, Canucks 1

EDMONTON, AB – That's called 'Playoff Ready'.

Matt Savoie recorded his first-career hat trick in the first period, while Connor McDavid contributed four assists and Evan Bouchard added three helpers to help the Edmonton Oilers clinch home-ice advantage in the First Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs with a convincing 6-1 win over the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday at Rogers Place.

"You want to go into playoffs riding high and playing your best hockey, and I think our group's playing really good defensively right now while getting scoring contributions from up and down the lineup," Savoie said. "So I think our team's in a good spot right now and we're ready for the playoffs.

Fellow local product Colton Dach had a goal, an assist and a fight to register his first-ever Gordie Howe hat trick in the victory, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins contributed his 20th goal of the season to reach the mark for the seventh time in his career.

The Canucks' only goal came on rookie Ty Muelller's first-career NHL tally in the opening frame, but the Oilers were locked in defensively to allow only 12 shots against Connor Ingram, going 2-for-2 on the penalty kill and finishing the regular season with only four goals against over their final three games.

With four assists, McDavid capped off his sixth-career season as the NHL's top scorer, capturing the Art Ross Trophy with 48 goals, 90 assists for 138 points in all 82 games.

Evan Bouchard's three helpers made him the 10th defenceman in NHL history and the second Oiler (Paul Coffey) to record 95 points in a season as he looks to lock down his first-career Norris Trophy as the League's top blueliner.

"The expectation is the same as always," McDavid said. "We've got a great belief in here. Playoff hockey is unique. It's a skill to win in the playoffs, and we feel pretty good about having that skill, having been there and having won a lot of playoff games.  That said, it's exciting. It's exciting for everybody, and we have to be ready to roll."

With the victory, the Oilers finish second in the Pacific Division and will have home-ice advantage in the First Round, where they'll face the Anaheim Ducks for the third time in their franchise's history and the first time since the 2016-17 season.

"They're a really good team," Darnell Nurse said. "They battled at the top of our division all year. Obviously, it's no easy feat to get into the playoffs in this league, and they're a good, skilled team.  So it's going to be a good test here right off the jump."

The series will begin with Game 1 on Monday at Rogers Place.

FIRST PERIOD

Savage Mode: Activated.

What a time it was for Matt Savoie to pick up his first career hat trick, scoring three times from the same spot to the left of the Canucks' crease in the opening frame of Game 82 of the regular season on Thursday with the Oilers in desperate need of a win to clinch home-ice advantage in the First Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The St. Albert product scored his 16th, 17th and 18th goals of the season, which were all assisted by Connor McDavid, for the second-most goals by an Alberta-born rookie in franchise history after Taylor Hall (22), giving the Oilers a 4-1 lead on the Canucks after 20 minutes and putting them on course to start the playoffs at home on Monday.

"It's special to do it in a big game where we knew we needed to win it to clinch home ice and treated it like a playoff game, so it was definitely special for me," Savoie said.

Edmonton's goal scoring started only 1:58 into the contest off a strong shift from the third line, where Colton Dach made a toe drag coming into the zone before Samanski got credit for his second goal of the campaign when his attempted pass to Trent Frederic the back door ended up going in off the skate of a Canucks' defenceman.

"Obviously, we wanted to start here at home and give ourselves the best chance in the first round, and the start was great," Ekholm said. "I thought Sammy's line with Dacher and Freddy was unbelievable and really got us going."

Savoie got in on the action with his first goal of the night less than five minutes later, controlling a hard pass from Evan Bouchard with his skate to the left of the blue paint before burying it past a diving Kevin Lankinen to double the Oilers' lead to 2-0.

The winger has been excelling since the Olympic break while playing next to Connor McDavid, and the two forwards were back in their regular top-line deployment with Zach Hyman after he returned to the lineup on Thursday from a five-game absence getting fully healthy for the playoffs.

"I feel good for sure," Savoie said. "Confidence has been high over the last few games, and the last five or six games, I've just continued to put myself in good spots and contribute."

McDavid's assist was his 87th of the season and 135th point, and he would grow his advantage in the NHL's Art Ross Trophy race to nearly double digits by night's end.

After being dominated early, the Canucks managed to score off their best spell of the frame midway through the frame after Connor Ingram was finally called into action to make a quick reaction save on Linus Karlsson off the feed down low from Drew O'Connor.

The Canucks made it 2-1 when Curtis Douglas flipped the puck over the head of Bouchard to rookie Ty Mueller, who came in on a breakaway and slid his first career NHL goal five-hole on Ingram after opening him up with a move to his forehand.

But Savoie got it right back only 2:25 later off a power-play rush, seeing McDavid carry it over the blueline on a three-on-two before firing to a ridiculous backhand pass to his linemate in the same spot as his first goal to restore the two-goal lead.

Why not make it three-for-three from the same spot for your first hat trick?

With 58 seconds left in the frame on a Canucks' delayed penalty, Savoie did exactly that with the help of McDavid once again by finding open space on the left side to accept another slick pass from the captain across the crease that he dispatched over the outstretched right pad of Lankinen for his first professional hat trick.

Savoie became the ninth different player in franchise history with a first-period hat trick and the first since Zach Hyman (Nov. 11, 2023), while also becoming the second player in franchise history to score his first-career hat trick via three first-period goals after Dave Hannan (Jan. 25, 1988). 

McDavid had three assists in the frame to reach 90 helpers on the season, while Evan Bouchard had two of his own in a business-like opening 20 minutes from the Oilers with home-ice advantage on the line.

SECOND PERIOD

After allowing only eight shots against in the middle frame and leading 5-1  on the Canucks through two periods off Ryan Nugent-Hopkins' 20th goal of the season, it was safe to say the Oilers were well on their way to completing their pre-playoff checklist.

The goals came flying in the opening period, but the Oilers' defence was prepared to play its part after limiting Vancouver to only five shots in the first period before following it up with only three against in the second stanza, including over two separate penalty kills to finish the regular season in great form, allowing only four goals in their last three games.

"We know we can defend," McDavid said. "We've always known that getting some goaltending helps. Our goalies have played really strongly, Ingo especially.  He looks like a rock back there. Murph came in and has been as advertised. The penalty kill has been sharp.  When all those things add up, you're going to keep a lot of goals out of your net."

The Oilers were answering the physical demand by doubling up the Canucks 21-10 in hits going into the third period, with Connor Murphy showing they won't be pushed around by socking Drew O'Connor in a fight after Colton Dach dropped the gloves in the first period against rookie Elias Pettersson.

After their defence stood strong, the Oilers went back to the power play with under four minutes left in the frame, where Nugent-Hopkins batted the puck out of mid air in the crease to reach 20 goals and increase the lead to 5-1 on the Canucks.

THIRD PERIOD

It came down to Game 82 of the regular season, but we're ready for the real thing.

The third line was rewarded again with their second goal of the night with 11:40 remaining in regulation, making it 6-1 on the Canucks after Colton Dach put away the pass in front from Connor Murphy to backhand home his fifth goal of the season.

After time expired and the Ducks were victorious over the Predators, the focus shifted immediately to the task at hand of facing the Ducks in the First Round with home ice.

The Oilers won two of three meetings in the 2025-26 season series against the Ducks, taking both home games 7-4 and 4-2 and losing 6-5 in Anaheim.

"Playoff hockey is always tight," McDavid said. "We're comfortable in those games. They're a very skilled young team that plays with a lot of energy and creates a lot, and they're dangerous. So we're going to have our hands full and it's our job to slow them down a little bit."

Local products Savoie and Dach combined for four goals to help their hometown team clinch home-ice advantage in the First Round, but it was a combined team effort to allow 12 shots from the Canucks and ultimately finish second in the Pacific.

Both forwards grew up cheering for the Oilers and will get to experience the energy and excitement of playoff hockey in Oil Country from the bench.

"It's going to be really special," Savoie said. "I came to a lot of games when I was young and was a big fan for a few runs from 2017 to 2020 and would watch every game. So I know how excited the city gets, and I'm really excited for it."