VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) - Bo Horvat says the Vancouver Canucks knew the power-play points would come eventually.
“We have a lot of sharp shooters out there and a lot of guys who can put the puck in the net, so it was just a matter of time before they started flooding in,” Horvat said.
Brock Boeser had three power-play points and the Canucks defeated the Edmonton Oilers 4-2 Sunday night.
Boeser had a goal and set up goals by Alex Edler and Elias Pettersson on power-play goals. Horvat added an empty-net goal for the Canucks.
“It’s huge,” Boeser said. “We talk about how much special teams makes a difference in these games and it showed tonight and I think we’re feeling pretty confident on the power play, so it’s nice to be a difference maker.”
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Alex Chiasson scored for the Oilers.
Jacob Markstrom made 20 saves for the Canucks, and Mikko Koskinen stopped 26 shots for the Oilers.
Vancouver’s win completes a sweep of a back-toback. The Canucks beat the Philadelphia Flyers 5-1 on Saturday.
After a scoreless opening period Sunday, the Oilers put the first goal on the board 1:40 into the second period.
Jujhar Khaira found Nugent-Hopkins in front of the Vancouver net and the center fired a wrist shot past Markstrom. It was Nugent-Hopkins’ 11th goal and 31st point of the year.
“We showed that we can out-play them 5-on-5,” Nugent-Hopkins said. “But unfortunately we just took too many penalties and they started to get some momentum and we just couldn’t claw our way back tonight.”
Vancouver answered with a trio of power-play goals.
Midway through the second, Edmonton defenseman Caleb Jones was called for holding, giving the Canucks the man advantage.
Boeser got a crisp pass to Edler, who sent a one-timer past Koskinen that tied the game.
Less than a minute later, Edmonton’s Kevin Gravel sent the puck over the glass and earned a delay-of-game penalty.
With time running out on the power play, Boeser collected the puck at the top of the faceoff circle and shot it at the Edmonton net. The puck appeared to hit Koskinen’s glove before dribbling in.
Boeser has six goals in his last five games.
Less than three minutes into the third period, the Canucks found themselves on the power play again after Oilers defenseman Adam Larsson was called for delay of game.
Pettersson scored off a shot from faceoff circle. He is riding seven-game point streak, with four goals and nine assists during the streak.
Edmonton got a goal back with less than five minutes to go when Chiasson sent a wrist shot past Markstrom.
Connor McDavid got an assist on the play, extending a nine-game point streak in which the star center has six goals and 10 assists.
UP NEXT
Oilers: Host the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday.
Canucks: Host the Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday.
___
More AP NHL: www.apnews.com/NHL and www.twitter.com/AP_Sports
Please read our comment policy before commenting.