PRE-GAME REPORT: Oilers at Canucks

The Edmonton Oilers will play the second of back-to-back games on Sunday against the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena.

You can watch the game on Sportsnet at 8:00 p.m. MDT or listen live on the Oilers Radio Network, including 880 CHED.

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PREVIEW: Oilers at Canucks

VANCOUVER, BC – The Oilers will look to respond 24 hours after their 3-2 defeat to the Seattle Kraken on Saturday when they finish off a back-to-back set in the Pacific Northwest on Sunday with a visit to Rogers Arena to take on the Vancouver Canucks.

The Blue & Orange aren't rushing the process, but there's a concerted effort being placed on limiting chances off the rush after they proved to be the difference in their defeat in Seattle on Saturday night, despite there being some better moments all around from the Oilers in a losing result.

"I thought our process was a little better than the other night," Darnell Nurse added. "But we forced Stu to make some big saves, especially off the rush, and probably gave up a few. So for us, we gotta keep plugging away at our game."

Outshooting the Kraken 33-23, the Oilers were beaten similarly on three separate rushes over the full 60 minutes – twice by Seattle captain Jordan Eberle – as the hosts were opportunistic in scoring their goals off misread pinches from along the blueline and Edmonton giving up too many odd-man breaks.

"There were a lot of things I liked," Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said. "We had more scoring chances than probably all but one game this year, especially in the third period. I thought we had a lot of pressure, but we made some mistakes, giving up chances off the rush. Whether that's a bad pinch or the forwards not coming back, we're just out of sync there."

Nurse and Bouchard both scored their first goals of the season, with Bouchard's power-play marker in the second period making it three straight games in which the Oilers' man advantage has contributed a goal.

Along with Nurse and Bouchard both having point streaks, Leon Draisaitl (2A) and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (1A) extend their point streaks to four and three games, respectively, while Mattias Ekholm has a four-game point streak with four assists.

"There were lots of looks today," Nurse said. "I felt like we got in the o-zone we were creating, and it's just a matter of making that one extra play, bearing down a little bit, and just keep just nailing away at that. There's no secret formula, no secret solution to it. It's just put our hard work hats on and try to put one home."

The Oilers dropped to 4-4-1 on the season and will need to up their game for another emotionally-charged meeting with the Canucks.

"Every time we play Vancouver, it's a tough match," Nurse said. "They're a team that comes out and plays hard. So for us, it's that connectedness. We talked about being five players all over the ice, upping our work ethic and winning our battles and those cliché things that allow you to work yourself out of a slump."

The Canucks are coming off a 4-3 defeat to the Canadiens on Saturday, with Thatcher Demko expected to get the start against Calvin Pickard, who has a 2-2-1 record with a 2.19 GAA and .920 save percentage against Vancouver over his career.

Despite not having stellar overall results against Edmonton, Demko has won 3 straight home starts against the Oilers (3-0-0, 1.78 GAA, .938 SV%)

Draisaitl is set to play in his 800th NHL game, having the fifth-most points (963) among non-North American-born players at this point in his career, and needs one more power-play goal to take sole possession of the third-most PPGs in League history before turning 30 years old, which he'll do on Monday.