EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Travis Hamonic, Nils Hoglander and Jayce Hawryluk each had a goal and an assist to help the Vancouver Canucks snap a six-game losing skid with a 6-3 victory over the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night.
Jack Rathbone, Tyler Graovac and Brock Boeser also scored for the Canucks. Thatcher Demko made 39 saves, including a stop on a penalty shot by Connor McDavid.
“As the season grinds along, it’s never going to go necessarily the way you think or you want," Hamonic said. "But you’ve got to kind of slow things down and enjoy the wins when they come your way and reset tomorrow. It felt like we’d been kind of grinding for a little bit for the last couple and it was nice to get one.”
Hamonic had a Gordie Howe hat trick in the win: scoring his first goal in a Canucks uniform, adding an assist and getting into a fight with Edmonton’s Alex Chiasson.
“You just want to do your part,” Hamonic said. “You want to kind of find your role on the team and try and help and chip in.
Hamonic's big night came on his mother’s birthday.
“I know she doesn’t like when I fight too much. But she’ll be happy about the goal, for sure,” Hamonic said with a grin.
Leon Draisaitl had two goals, Jesse Puljujarvi also scored and McDavid had three assists for the Oilers, who had a three-game winning streak stopped.
The game marked the third of four straight meetings between the teams. Edmonton won the first two in Vancouver on Monday and Tuesday nights. The finale is Saturday night in Edmonton.
Hoglander opened the scoring just 31 seconds in when he blasted a shot past Mikko Koskinen from the left circle for his 10th goal.
Rathbone made it 2-0 4:43 into the first period with his first NHL goal in his second game. Hamonic scored his first of the season just 50 seconds later to give the Canucks a quick three-goal lead.
Koskinen was chased 12:22 into the opening period after Hawryluk sent a shot through his legs and making it 4-0.
“I’m not sure I’ve ever seen that where the first four shots go in your net," Oilers coach Dave Tippett said. "So it’s a big hole to jump out of.”
Mike Smith stopped 21 of 23 shots in relief and was credited with an assist on Draisaitl’s first goal.
The Oilers were down 5-2 in the third period when Draisaitl beat Demko — moments after McDavid was awarded a penalty shot after Vancouver defenseman Tyler Myers slashed him from behind on a breakaway.
The Oilers captain weaved his way in and flipped a shot on net from in tight, but Demko stretched out to make the pad stop.
With his three assists, McDavid can still reach 100 points this season. He has 96 with 31 goals and 65 assists.
“The whole team wasn’t very good to start, top to bottom,” he said. “They were obviously ready to go and got the jump on us. And we couldn’t stop the bleeding until it was a little too late and put ourselves a little too far behind the eight ball.”
___
More AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/NHL and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
