5 Takeaways From Oilers’ 6-1 Season-Ending Victory Against Canucks – The Hockey Writers – Edmonton Oilers

The Edmonton Oilers concluded their 2025-26 regular season schedule with a 6-1 victory over the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Place on Thursday (April 16).

Oilers forward Matt Savoie notched his first career hat trick, while Colton Dach, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Josh Samanski also tallied for the home team. Vancouver got its lone goal from centre Ty Mueller.

Edmonton netminder Connor Ingram made 11 saves in a winning effort. Canucks goalie Kevin Lankinen was much busier, facing 35 shots and stopping 29 of them.

With the win, Edmonton clinches second place in the Pacific Division and will face the third-place Anaheim Ducks in a best-of-seven first round playoff series beginning Monday (April 20).

Career Night for Savoie

Savoie needed less than 20 minutes to get the first NHL hat trick of his career, scoring three times in the opening period.

The winger’s first goal came at 6:48 of the first period. He then scored again at 14:35, and made it rain hats when he put the puck past Lankinen with 55 seconds remaining in the period.

At 22 years and 106 days of age, Savoie is the youngest player to score three goals in one period for the Oilers since Nail Yakupov did it at the age of 19 years and 203 days, on April 27, 2013. Notably, Yakupov’s three-goal period also came during Edmonton’s season finale at home against Vancouver, a 7-2 victory.

Savoie’s hat trick caps off a tremendous first full NHL season for the local product, who finishes 2025-26 with 19 goals and 18 assists for 37 points. He was one of just three Oilers forwards to play in all 82 games, and tied for the team lead with five game-winning goals, including the winner on Thursday.

Oilers Take Care of Business

The Oilers came into Thursday’s game knowing with a single point they would finish second in the Pacific Division and secure home ice advantage for the playoffs’ opening round. Meanwhile, if they lost in regulation, it could potentially drop them all the way into the Western Conference’s second wild card spot where Edmonton would draw the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Colorado Avalanche as its Round 1 opponent.

Suffice to say, there was a lot on the line for the Oilers, and they treated matters as such. Right from the opening faceoff, it was clear Edmonton wasn’t messing around.

The game was only a couple shifts old before Samanski scored to give Edmonton a 1-0 lead at 1:58 of the first period. A few minutes later, Savoie potted his first goal to put the Oilers ahead 2-0, and by the time the first period was over, Edmonton was out in front by a score of 4-1.

At that point, the game was effectively over, but the Oilers weren’t about to let up against the cellar-dwelling Canucks.

Dominant Performance by Oilers

Edmonton could have cruised to victory for the last 40 minutes, but to their credit, the Oilers continued to give it their full effort, while playing smart and sound hockey. The Oilers’ lead just kept growing, with Nugent-Hopkins scoring his 20^th goal of the season late in the second period, and Dach tallying midway through the third.

After being held to five shots in the opening frame, the Canucks managed just seven more over the last two periods. Vancouver’s total of 12 shots on the goal is the second fewest allowed by the Oilers in a regular season game in franchise history.

All told, this was a dominant performance, start-to-finish, by the Oilers, as it should be for a playoff-bound team against an opponent that was eliminated from postseason contention nearly four weeks ago.  

McDavid Secures Art Ross Trophy

Edmonton’s Connor McDavid picked up three assists on Thursday to conclude the season with an NHL-leading 138 points, from 48 goals and 90 apples. The Oilers captain had eight points more than Tampa Bay Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov, who finished second in the league with 44 goals and 86 assists. Colorado captain Nathan MacKinnon totalled 127 points to place third.

McDavid clinches his sixth career Art Ross Trophy, which is awarded annually to the player that leads the NHL in points. He previously won the trophy in 2016-17, 2017-18, 2020-21, 2021-22, and 2022-23.

Meanwhile, Oilers blueliner Evan Bouchard also recorded three helpers on Thursday, bringing his season total to a career-high 95 points from 21 goals and 74 assists. Bouchard finishes 2025-26 as the top point-producer among all NHL defencemen, with a whopping 14-point lead over second-place Zach Werenski of the Columbus Blue Jackets. The 26-year-old Bouchard becomes just the 10^th defenceman in NHL history to record 95 points in a season at least once.

Oilers Get Break Before Round 1

While the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs begin on Saturday (April 18), the Oilers have a full three days off between games before hosting Anaheim for Game 1 on Monday night. It will be the last of the NHL’s eight first-round series to start.

This will be only the third time that the Oilers and Ducks have met in the postseason, following the second round in 2017 (Anaheim won in seven games) and the 2006 Western Conference Final (Oilers won in five games). Edmonton and Anaheim played each other three times during the 2025-26 regular season, with the home team winning each game: the Oilers by scores of 7-4 and 4-2 at Rogers Place, and the Ducks by a score of 6-5 at Honda Center.

Game 2 of the series is scheduled for Wednesday (April 22) at Rogers Place, before the scene shifts to Orange County for Games 3 and 4 at Honda Center on April 24 and 26.