Casey DeSmith made 32 saves as the visiting Vancouver Canucks moved a step closer toward clinching the Pacific Division title with a 3-1 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday night.
Sam Lafferty, Pius Suter and Dakota Joshua scored goals for Vancouver (49-22-9, 107 points), which increased its division lead to five points over second-place Edmonton (48-25-6, 102 points). The Oilers still have three games and a possible six points left on their schedule while the Canucks have two games remaining.
DeSmith snapped a personal four-game losing streak with his first starting victory since March 23 when the Canucks defeated Calgary 4-2. Vancouver also completed a four-game regular-season series sweep of Edmonton, outscoring the Oilers, 21-7 in the process.
Evander Kane scored a goal and Stuart Skinner finished with 24 saves for Edmonton, which lost its second straight game. Oilers center Connor McDavid, the reigning league MVP and scoring champion who is third in the NHL in scoring with 130 points, sat out his third straight game with a lower-body injury.
Vancouver took a 1-0 lead with just 16 seconds to go in the first period on Lafferty’s wrist shot from the middle of the right circle on a rush into the far corner for his 13th goal of the season.
The Canucks extended their lead to 2-0 midway through the second period when Suter, skating down the slot, redirected Tyler Myers’ pass into the top-left corner for his 14th goal.
Edmonton cut it to 2-1 near the end of the period when Kane stuck out his stick and redirected Darnell Nurse’s point shot inside the left post for his 24th goal.
The Oilers pulled Skinner for an extra attacker with two minutes to go and Joshua then sealed the win 13 seconds later with an empty-netter, his 17th goal of the season.
–Field Level Media
