Draisaitl scores twice, Oilers hold off Canucks

EDMONTON – Leon Draisaitl had two goals and an assist, Connor McDavid added three assists, and the Edmonton Oilers won 4-2 against the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Place on Saturday.

McDavid pushed his season-long point streak to 18 games with a League-leading 47 points (10 goals, 37 assists), as he closes in on his career-best single-season point streak of 20 games (36 points; 19 goals, 17 assists) from last season. McDavid’s 18-game streak is the longest to begin a season among active players, as he passed his own mark of 17 games (2021-22) that he shared with Toronto’s William Nylander (2023-24).

Jason Dickinson and Mattias Ekholm also scored for the Oilers (12-3-3), who lost their previous two games (0-1-1). Devon Levi made 20 saves in his return to the lineup after missing seven games with a lower-body injury.

“I thought they played a good game. I thought we played really well, too,” Levi said. “Solid defensively, checked well. It's a tight game.

“I love playing those games, going into the third period 1-1 knowing that I'm probably going to have to come up with one or two. Love it, man. So it was a fun game.”

Max Sasson scored, and Leevi Merilainen made 26 saves for the Canucks (3-15-1), who have lost five straight and 15 of their past 16 games (1-14-1).

“There were a lot of real positives coming out of it, especially in the first two periods, in terms of just the overall effort that was put forth, Canucks coach Manny Malhotra said. “The attention to detail was there and because of that, we were in a situation going into the third where we had an opportunity to win.

“Again it comes down to just those momentary lapses in detail and small missed assignments or missed puck battles, those are the things that add up and obviously against a team as high-powered as Edmonton, when you give them those little looks they’re going to make good on them.”

Ekholm put the Oilers ahead 1-0 at 9:14 of the first period, taking a one-time pass from McDavid at the front of the right circle and sending it past Merilainen’s glove.

Sasson tied it 1-1 with nine seconds left in the period, redirecting a slap shot from the point by Jamie Oleksiak over Levi’s glove.

“I thought it was a pretty good effort. I thought we did a lot of good things,” Sasson said. “I thought our breakouts looked a lot cleaner and I thought we were using the middle of the ice a lot better.

“We had some decent looks, but I think, including myself, we have to shoot the puck a little bit more. When it’s 1-1, it’s a race to two, so we had to get that next one.”

Dickinson regained the lead, 2-1, for the Oilers 49 seconds into the third period, sweeping in a backhand on his second rebound attempt off his own initial deflection into open net behind Merlainen.

“It’s things like that I’ve got to zero in on a little bit more,” Dickinson said. “I’ve got to get to the net and be harder and heavier to play against. It’s nice to get rewarded for one, it kind of takes a little bit of, not pressure per se, but there’s a little bit of a weight on my shoulders sometimes where I’m like, ‘What am I doing?’

“It takes a bit of that off me to be like, ‘OK, you’re obviously able to do it and you’re doing it, so stick with it.’”

Draisaitl scored on the power play for a 3-1 lead at the four-minute mark, one-timing a pass from McDavid just in front of the right dot past Merilainen’s glove.

“This is what I expected tonight. They lost 6-1 the other night, I knew Manny would have them ready and competing really hard,” Oilers coach Mike Babcock said. “I’d like to beat them 6-0, but the reality is this was way better for us, and it was way better that they pushed back and we had to stick to doing it right instead of getting all over the place and turning pucks over.

“And I thought we did that at the start of the third to get ourselves to a 3-1 lead.”

Brock Boeser made it 3-2 at 17:25, deflecting a slap shot from the point by Filip Hronek past Levi.

Draisaitl scored into the empty net with 45 seconds left for the 4-2 final.

NOTES: Boeser left down the tunnel with 2:02 left in the second period after blocking a shot off his foot, but returned to the bench shortly after. ... Edmonton was 1-for-3 on the power play, and held Vancouver to 0-for-2. ... McDavid matched Adam Oates (18 games in 1992-93) for the second-longest assist streak in NHL history. Wayne Gretzky owns the longest streak in League history with 23 games in 1990-91. ... Forward Zach Hyman returned after missing five games with neck injury and had an assist and two shots on goal in 20:56 for the Oilers. … Ryan Nugent-Hopkins left 45 seconds into the second period, after taking a puck to the head off of teammate Ryan Shea. “I don’t think he is (going to miss much time), actually,” Babcock said. “Initially, you’re worried about a broken jaw and they did an assessment on that. Just knowing our medical guys, there will probably be more assessments tomorrow. But I just shook his hand, he was in the hallway and seemed to be doing OK.”