PREVIEW: Oilers vs. Canucks
EDMONTON, AB – Here we go again.
After meeting this past Saturday on the West Coast, the Edmonton Oilers will host their Western Conference rivals in the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday night at Rogers Place in the second game of their season-high six-game homestand.
The Blue & Orange are looking to get back in the win column after losing back-to-back games for the first time in 2025 following a 3-2 defeat to the league-leading Washington Capitals on Tuesday, but the loss wasn't due to any lack of effort.
The Oilers heavily out-chanced the Capitals, more than doubling them up in shots 32-14, but goaltender Logan Thompson – a notable snub from Canada’s 4 Nations Face-Off roster along with Oilers netminder Stuart Skinner – made 30 saves to improve to 10-0-1 in his last 11 starts, building on his performance last week as the NHL's First Star of the Week.
Thompson also recorded an assist on the game-winning goal early in the third period from forward Pierre Luc-Dubois, who had a goal and an assist in the victory to help extend Washington's point streak to 11 games (8-0-3).
Forward Leon Draisaitl was his regular self, scoring his NHL-best 34th goal of the season, along with an assist on Corey Perry's third-period tally that saw the veteran forward avoid a plate of nachos on the ice and score his eighth goal of the campaign. Perry’s goal was the 437th of his career, tying Pavel Bure and Rick Nash for the 76th-most in NHL history.
With a goal and an assist for Draisaitl on Tuesday, the German sits second in the NHL for points with 71 while owning a six-goal lead in the NHL's goalscoring race. Defenceman Darnell Nurse posted an assist to reach 20 points this season – his eighth consecutive campaign with 20 or more points.