Mike Smith stopped 32 shots for his second shutout of the season, leading the Edmonton Oilers to a 3-0 victory over the host Vancouver Canucks on Thursday.
Smith, 38, improved to 6-0-0 this season. According to STATS, the only older goalie to start a season with at least six consecutive wins was George Hainsworth, who began 8-0-0 for the 1934-35 Toronto Maple Leafs.
Alex Chiasson, Jesse Puljujarvi and Connor McDavid each scored for the Oilers, who earned their fifth consecutive win and improved to 11-2-0 in their past 13 games. McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, the league’s top point-getters, each recorded an assist.
The Canucks lost their four game in a row (0-3-1) after falling to Edmonton for the second consecutive game.
The teams played to a scoreless tie through the first 27 minutes of play. McDavid drew Alex Edler into a hooking penalty at 5:47 of the second period, and with six seconds left on the ensuing power play, Chiasson drove home a spinning shot at the side of the Canucks’ net to put the Oilers up 1-0.
The Canucks celebrated what they thought was their first goal at 12:38 of the middle period when Jake Virtanen jumped on a rebound in front of Smith. A review of the play revealed the puck did not fully cross the goal line, and the goal was waved off.
The Oilers got a little insurance at 12:35 of the third period with Canucks winger Antoine Roussel in the penalty box for hooking McDavid. The Edmonton star made the man advantage hurt, moving the puck over to Draisaitl, who fired off a sharp-angle shot. The rebound landed on Puljujarvi’s stick, and the 22-year-old winger shoveled the puck past Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko for his sixth of the season.
McDavid sealed the victory with an empty-netter at 19:37.
The Oilers were 2-for-5 on the power play while the Canucks had no goals on four extra-man opportunities.
–Field Level Media
