GAME RECAP: Canucks 3, Oilers 2

VANCOUVER, BC – The Vancouver Canucks held on to defeat the Edmonton Oilers 3-2 at Rogers Arena on Saturday night, ending the Blue & Orange's four-game win streak after coming up short in erasing a multi-goal deficit for the third straight game.

The Oilers trailed 3-0 after the first period before forward Leon Draisaitl extended his point streak to six games in the middle frame by scoring twice to reach 33 goals this season, cutting Vancouver's lead to 3-2 before Edmonton was unable to equalize over the final frame.

Captain Connor McDavid extended his own point streak to four games with an assist but was assessed a match penalty in the final moments of the third period, cross-checking Conor Garland up high after being held down for nearly 10 seconds while the Oilers searched for the tying goal with the net empty.

Goaltender Stuart Skinner finished his night with 24 saves in the defeat.

The Oilers will host Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals at Rogers Place on Tuesday before facing the Canucks two days later.

FIRST PERIOD

Unfortunately, it's a script the Oilers have read a few times in recent games. All that was left to do was flip it again.

The Oilers had rallied from multi-goal deficits in each of their past two games and would need to do it a third time after the Canucks scored three times – twice on the power play – over a 3:32 stretch of the final six minutes of the first period, putting the Oilers behind by the end of the opening frame.

Vancouver outshot Edmonton 16-7 over the opening 20 minutes by pounding the blue paint of goaltender Stuart Skinner, who was victorious in his start against the Canucks earlier this season but hasn't always seen results over his career against his team's Pacific Division rival.

"Two penalties and two power-play goals were a big part of it," Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said. "Giving up those two were the difference in the game. We were able to get one power play and a power-play goal, and we lost by one. Usually, special teams are the difference of a hockey game."

Skinner started strong by making a terrific toe save to deny Nils Höglander on a breakaway near the midway mark of the period, stretching out to stop the Swedish winger before the puck found its way to Filip Hronek for a one-timer that Mattias Janmark was able to parry away with a crucial block.

The Oilers netminder couldn't do much on all three of Vancouver's next three goals, which all came quickly beginning with Quinn Hughes' lucky bounce off Mattias Ekholm's leg in the crease on the game's first power play with 5:22 left in the period.

Just 1:11 later, a rebound from defenceman Tyler Myers' point shot wasn't cleaned up by either Skinner or his defencemen, allowing an unchecked Danton Heinen to clean it up in front to double Vancouver's advantage in quick succession.

The Canucks made it 3-0 on another power play late in the period after Ekholm high-sticked his countryman Höglander coming through the neutral zone, resulting in captain Quinn Hughes taking a pass from Miller and firing it top shelf on Skinner from the left circle.

In what could potentially be one of Miller's last games in Vancouver amidst trade rumours on Saturday, the proven goalscorer had two assists in the opening frame to end his seven-game pointless streak and was 10-for-10 in the face-off circle.

Coming into Saturday's tilt, there'd been only nine instances of a team coming back from multi-goal deficits in three straight games – a list that includes the Oilers, who did it during the month of December in the 2005-06 season against the Canadiens, Canucks and Flames.

SECOND PERIOD

Here come the Oilers – again.

The NHL's leading goal scorer in Leon Draisaitl got the Oilers on the board with his 32nd goal of the season that deserved an assist for Connor McDavid despite the marker going down as unassisted 4:01 into the middle frame.

The Oilers captain burned Tyler Myers in the corner and flashed a quick pass across the crease to Darnell Nurse at the back door, who couldn't corral the puck before it pinballed onto the stick of Draisaitl inside the right circle for the German to deposit under Thatcher Demko's left pad to make it 3-1.

Draisaitl extended his point streak to six games – his third point streak of six games or more this season – but in typical No. 29 fashion, he was far from done.

With a power play for the Oilers past the 12-minute mark of the period, Draisaitl finished off a pass from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins below the goal line by going top shelf on Demko from the right of Vancouver's net, giving him 33 goals on the season and leaving the Blue & Orange just one back of the Canucks heading into the third down 3-2.

"Leon's exceptional," Knoblauch said. "He's having an incredible season and an incredible career, but this year especially, not only playing a 200-foot game, but being able to score the goals that he has been able to do on the power play and even strength. He's a big part of the success that we've had these last two or three months."

McDavid garnered a secondary assist to push his own personal point streak to four games (4G, 3A) and leads all current Oilers over their careers in goals (24), assists (44) and points (68) against Vancouver. His 68 points against the Canucks are his most against any single opponent, while Draisaitl has enjoyed his recent visits to Rogers Arena with points in 15 straight games since starting his career pointless over his first eight visits.

THIRD PERIOD

Edmonton's search for a third goal and a third straight multi-goal comeback came down to the late stages when the task got harder when Mattias Ekholm's slashing penalty took two valuable minutes off the clock.

In the game's dying moments, following a lack of a call on Conor Garland for a blatant hold on Connor McDavid, things got even worse for the Oilers.

The Oilers pulled Stuart Skinner in the final minute to make it six-on-five, where McDavid was held down by Garland in the slot for what seemed like an eternity before escaping his grasp and connecting high on the 5-foot-10 winger with 2.3 seconds left in regulation.

McDavid was assessed a match penalty for cross-checking, but could've been prevented if the lengthy hold from Garland had been called by the official.

"There's a rivalry. Connor gets frustrated," Knoblauch said. "He gets his stick up and he's frustrated, because we're down one goal and the best player in the league is getting held for 15 seconds. There's frustration that that's allowed to happen, and his stick got up. So that's what happened."

Tyler Myers was also assessed a match penalty, along with every player on the ice earning two-minute minors, pushing the ensuing faceoff out to the neutral zone and ending Edmonton's hopes of another comeback in a 3-2 defeat at Rogers Arena.

"I thought we had a pretty good push to make it 3-2 after the second period, and we just couldn't generate enough to get that third one."