Connor McDavid had four assists and rookie Matthew Savoie scored his first career hat trick as the Edmonton Oilers secured second place in the Pacific Division and home ice to start the first round of playoffs with a clutch 6-1 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday.
Josh Samanski, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Colton Dach also scored and Evan Bouchard chipped in with three assists for the Oilers (41-30-12) who closed out the regular season with a 7-2-2 record in their final 11 games. The Oilers finished 30-5-5 when scoring first this season.
Edmonton was buoyed by the return of veteran scorer Zach Hyman and are expecting star forward Leon Draisaitl back during the opening round of post-season play against the Anaheim Ducks.
Ty Mueller scored his first career goal for the last-place Canucks (25-49-8) who had a three-game winning streak halted.
Connor Ingram recorded just 11 saves to earn the win in the Edmonton net, while Kevin Lankinen made 29 stops for Vancouver.
Can the Oilers make it to the finals — again?| Hanomansing Tonight
Canucks: Jake DeBrusk was held scoreless after notching four goals in his three previous contests.
Of DeBrusk’s 23 goals on the season, 19 came on the power play (82.6 per cent).
The only other player in NHL history to finish a season with more than 20 goals and more than 80 per cent of them scored on the man advantage was Camille Henry of the New York Rangers in 1953-54.
Canucks fans question season ticket price increase
Oilers: McDavid finished the regular season with 138 points.
As the NHL’s top scorer, he captured his sixth Art Ross title, tying him with Mario Lemieux and Gordie Howe for second most in league history behind Wayne Gretzky’s 10.
McDavid became the third player in league history to get a point in every one of his team’s wins this year with 41, Gretzky coming next with 29 in 1980-81.
With his four-point night, he reached 1,220 career points, passing Jeremy Roenick, Larry Murphy and Jean Beliveau to advance to 47th place on the NHL’s all-time point scoring list. McDavid entered the season in 71st place.
Bouchard picked up three assists to cap off a tremendous regular season, easily winning the scoring race among defencemen with 95 points.
He passed Ray Bourque for the seventh most points by a blueliner in a season since 1989-90, a list led by current Oilers assistant coach Paul Coffey who had 103 that year.
Canucks: Await the draft lottery after finishing last in the NHL this season.
Oilers: Host the Anaheim Ducks to start the playoffs on Monday.
