Draisaitl, Hyman each has 3 points, Oilers score 6 to ease past Canucks

EDMONTON -- Zach Hyman had two goals and an assist, and Leon Draisaitl had a goal and two assists for the Edmonton Oilers in a 6-2 win against the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Place on Thursday.

Draisaitl, who scored in his third straight game (four goals), also extended his home point streak to 17 games (31 points; 14 goals, 17 assists).

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had a goal and an assist, and Calvin Pickard made 24 saves for the Oilers (30-15-3), who had lost their previous two games following a four-game winning streak.

Both Oilers forward Connor McDavid and Canucks defenseman Tyler Myers were serving the second game of their respective three-game suspensions following matching cross-checking infractions from their previous meeting, a 3-2 Canucks win on Saturday.

“With Connor out, everyone needs to step up and I thought it was a good four-line performance. All the ‘D’ contributed and ‘Picks’ played great. Good team win,” said Hyman, who played without a full face shield for the first time since breaking his nose Dec. 16. “It's been a long time.

“It's more natural, easier to breathe and when you look down you can see the puck and bury it there when you've got a split second. That helps.”

Brock Boeser had a goal and an assist, and Filip Hronek also scored for the Canucks (20-17-10), who have lost eight of 10 (2-6-2). Thatcher Demko made 28 saves.

“You have to find ways to be consistent in this league in order to win hockey games. We haven’t and we’re struggling,” Boeser said. “It’s very difficult, but we have to. We’re only a few points out of a wild-card spot and we have to find a way to turn it around. It starts with having a good mindset coming to the rink every day.”

Hyman put Edmonton ahead 1-0 at 5:52 of the first period, taking a long lead pass from Draisaitl up the left boards at the blue line, cutting across at the dot while keeping Hronek on his back and scoring glove side on Demko.

Draisaitl made it 2-0 on the power play at 14:21. He received a cross-crease pass from Nugent-Hopkins at the side of the net that glanced off Hyman’s stick along the way before sending a one-timer past Demko’s glove from the right dot. It was Draisaitl’s NHL-leading 35th goal of the season.

Draisaitl pushed his overall point streak to eight games (six goals, nine assists).

Adam Henrique extended it to 3-0 just 20 seconds later at 14:41, taking a bank pass off the boards behind the net from Mattias Ekholm and wrapping it around inside the left post on the backhand.

“I think we’re disappointed, we’re struggling in some areas of the ice, struggling to string multiple games together. It’s tough right now,” Canucks forward Teddy Blueger said. “It’s tough, it’s frustrating. It’s like we talk about it and we address it, and a couple of mistakes later we’re down a couple, and obviously that’s a tough spot to come back from.”

Hyman made it 4-0 at 1:59 of the second period after a giveaway by Blueger landed in the high slot on the stick of Noah Philp, whose shot was deflected past Demko’s glove.

Nugent-Hopkins pushed it to 5-0 on the power play at 12:02 on a short give-and-go through the right circle with Draisaitl, scoring on a wrist shot.

Boeser scored off the rush 25 seconds later to cut it to 5-1 at 12:27 off a side feed from J.T. Miller with a shot past Pickard’s glove.

Hronek cut it to 5-2 at 15:06 with a one-timer from the point that deflected in off the shaft of Edmonton forward Vasily Podkolzin’s stick following an offensive-zone face-off.

“They had their little push in the second period there,” Draisaitl said. “I thought we handled them fairly well. And in the third, we didn’t give up much. It was kind of a scrambly period there with all of the 4-on-4 going on. All in all, I thought it was a good effort by us.”

Kasperi Kapanen scored off his own rebound at 10:21 of the third period for the 6-2 final.

“In this business, you have to bring energy. I felt some guys did not have energy tonight for some reason,” Vancouver coach Rick Tocchet said. “They looked exhausted tonight, five or six guys. I’m not sure why. We’re going to have to get some rest here and we have a big game against [the Washington Capitals on Saturday]. That’s a big, must-win game and you always have to have in your mind that you have to bring a must-win attitude.”

NOTES: Draisaitl became the fifth player in franchise history with a home point streak of at least 17 games, joining Wayne Gretzky (five times), McDavid (twice), Paul Coffey and Blair MacDonald. ... Draisaitl has earned at least a point in all but one game since Dec. 5. His 43 points (18 goals, 25 assists) in 24 games is the highest point total in the NHL over that span. ... Draisaitl scored his 155th career power-play goal, a total that was already the most in Oilers history. Only four other active players have as many: Alex Ovechkin (318), Steven Stamkos (223), Evgeni Malkin (181) and Sidney Crosby (178). … Vancouver defenseman Quinn Hughes reached the 40-assist mark for the fourth straight season, surpassing Dennis Kearns (three from 1975-76 – 1977-78) for the most consecutive campaigns by a defenseman in Canucks history.