Jeff Misenti
The Vancouver Canucks ended their season with a 6-1 loss to the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place on Thursday night.
Matt Savoie scored a first-period hat trick, Connor McDavid piled up four assists, and the Oilers locked down second place in the Pacific Division with a game that was basically settled before the opening period ended.
Ty Mueller scored Vancouver’s lone goal, the first of his NHL career.
According to NHL.com, Edmonton’s win also secured home-ice advantage for a first-round playoff series against the Anaheim Ducks.
ESPN reported that McDavid finished the regular season with 138 points to win the NHL scoring race, while Savoie’s three-goal first period was the first hat trick of his NHL career.
On the Vancouver side, the loss snapped a three-game winning streak and dropped the curtain on another hard year.
Edmonton had too much speed, too much skill, and far too much space to work with. Vancouver did get a nice moment with Mueller’s goal, and Kevin Lankinen battled all night, but the larger shape of the game never really changed after the early rush hit.
Flow of the game
At 1:58 of the first period, Josh Samanski opened the scoring after Colton Dach’s centering pass deflected in off his skate. Savoie doubled the lead at 6:48 with a wrist shot from the left circle, then Vancouver finally answered at 12:10 when Mueller took a pass from Curtis Douglas, hesitated, and fired home his first NHL goal. Lankinen even picked up the secondary assist on the play.
For a moment, it felt like the Canucks had something to build on. They didn’t. Savoie struck on the power play at 14:35, then completed the hat trick at 19:02 with a quick finish in front after McDavid and Evan Bouchard moved the puck cleanly through the zone.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins added a power-play goal at 16:46 of the second after Zach Hyman, back from a five-game absence, found him at the side of the net.
Colton Dach made it 6-1 in the third with a wrist shot over Lankinen’s glove, and from there it was just about getting to the final horn.
Connor Ingram needed only 11 saves for the win, which tells you how little sustained pressure Vancouver created. Edmonton got six goals on 35 shots. Lankinen stopped 29 shots, showcasing how bad the score could have been.
This wasn’t one bad bounce or one hot scorer. It was a loose, messy night against a team that knew exactly what was on the line.
There was at least a small bright spot in Mueller getting his first goal. But for Canucks fans, the bigger feeling was probably the usual one, relief that the year is over and hope that the next version of this team looks more settled than the one that finished here.
Edmonton moves on to the playoffs with momentum. Vancouver moves into an offseason with a lot to answer for.
