Vancouver Canucks

Youth is served at team awards as Vancouver Canucks fall to Edmonton Oilers
April 9, 2017, 1:24 PM ET [248 Comments]
Carol Schram
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Saturday April 8 - Edmonton Oilers 3 - Vancouver Canucks 2

It was a fiercer game than Canucks fans might have expected. Newly-anointed MVP Bo Horvat logged his first NHL fight and Brock Boeser scored his fourth NHL goal as the Vancouver Canucks fell 3-2 to the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Arena on Saturday night.

Here are your highlights:



As the last home game of the season, Saturday's game was Fan Appreciation Night. That meant team awards and the unveiling of the #LightUpVancouver promotion with Budweiser's goal-synced glasses.

The Red Lights glowed impressively during the national anthem.




I have to admit, with the way the Canucks have been scoring—or not scoring—lately, I was worried that we wouldn't get to see the lights come on for an actual goal. Vancouver had posted just two goals in its last three home games, so it was a big win to see them match that output on Saturday night.

Even with the reputation he brought from college as a sniper with a great shot, Brock Boeser has been amazing with his scoring consistency since he joined the Canucks.




His power-play goal tied the game at 1-1 late in the second period on Saturday, setting off those glasses.




Alex Edler added the second goal of the night to pull the Canucks within one while Ryan Miller was pulled for the extra attacker with 40 seconds left to play.

I don't think anybody wanted the Canucks to win Saturday's game. Vancouver remains just one point below Arizona in the standings, and the Coyotes finished their season with a loss to Minnesota last night. But I was impressed—once again—by the effort level of many of the Canucks.

Griffen Molino and Michael Chaput each took hard hits, but stayed in the game. And Troy Stecher was down on the ice for a long time after taking a stick to the face as Milan Lucic set up Edmonton's third-period goal.




I thought Stecher made a valiant effort to stay with Lucic on this play, considering he's giving up something in the range of five inches and 45 pounds to the Oilers' power forward.

Stecher was named the Canucks' best defenseman for the year in the fan-voted pregame awards, and he came out like a house on fire in the first period—looking to me like he was determined to show that he could live up to that billing.

Even after taking Lucic's stick to his face midway through the third, Stecher did return to the game—possibly without missing a shift. He was only off the ice for 2:33 of game action.

Other fan-voted awards went to Markus Granlund as the team's Unsung Hero and Bo Horvat as the MVP and Most Exciting Player.

Horvat was held off the scoresheet again on Saturday but did treat fans to some excitement in the form of his first NHL fight, against tough-as-nails Darnell Nurse.

Here's the clip from the Punjabi broadcast:



Only in hockey can this kind of logic apply:




The awards results are certainly a strong indication that fans are on board with the Canucks' youth movement—the oldest award recipient was Granlund, who turns 24 later this month.

I thought a case cold have been made for the team's oldest player, Ryan Miller, as MVP. His calming presence as he handled a heavy workload was a bright light, and he's one of only a handful of Canucks to have exceeded expectations this season.

So—one more game tonight, finishing off the season in Edmonton.




The Oilers have plenty to play for tonight—not just going into the playoffs on a high note, but also playing for the Pacific Division title. They've already secured home-ice advantage in the first round. A win tonight would move them above Anaheim into first place—and set up that Battle of Alberta that I'm hoping for in Round 1.

Connor McDavid has a nine-point lead over Sidney Crosby and Patrick Kane in the Art Ross Trophy race, so that looks assured. The question now is whether he'll crack the 100-point plateau—he'll need two points tonight to make that happen.

The Canucks' scoring title is still up for grabs. Bo Horvat is pointless in his last three games but is still clinging to the lead with 51 points. Henrik Sedin assisted on both goals last night so he's now up to 50. The suspense!

A couple of other notes before I sign off for today:

First, the Canucks have recalled Yan-Pavel Laplante from the Alaska Aces for tonight's game:




Laplante's a 21-year-old winger who was signed by the Canucks as an overager last summer. He started the season with the Comets before being demoted to the aces.

Finally—huge game for the Comets today. After dropping a 5-0 decision to Rochester on Saturday, Utica plays host to the team it's fighting for the last playoff berth in the North Division, the St. John's Ice Caps.

Four games remain on the Comets' schedule. This is the last head-to-head meeting between the two teams.