Forward Arshdeep Bains made a pitch to be on the Canucks91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ™ opening night roster, scoring on the power play and adding an assist as Vancouver defeated the visting Edmonton Oilers 4-1 in the final NHL pre-season game for both teams Friday night.
Quinn Hughes, Carson Soucy and Jake DeBrusk, into an empty net, also scored for the Canucks (3-2). Elias Pettersson had two assists.
Defenceman Evan Bouchard scored for the Oilers (3-5)
Vancouver goaltender Arturs Silovs stopped 28 shots.
Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner made 22 saves.
Bains, a 23-year-old who grew up in Surrey, on Vancouver91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ™s outskirts, is one of several players on the bubble as the Canucks make their final roster decisions.
He played five games with the Canucks last year but didn91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ™t register a point. In 59 games with Vancouver 91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ˜s American Hockey League farm team in Abbotsford, the six-foot, 184-pound left-winger had 16 goals and 39 assists.
He had one goal in three previous exhibition games this year.
Power play passing on point 👌
91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ” Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks)
With centres Pius Suter and Dakota Joshua both out with injuries there are spots open on the Canuck roster.
Each club dressed a lineup closer to their regular-season rosters with both teams playing their final exhibition game.
Bains gave Vancouver a 2-0 lead at 7:50 of the second period. With about 10 seconds remaining in a tripping penalty to Mattias Janmark, Danton Heinen slid a pass across the front of the net that Bains banged into the open corner.
Bouchard cut the Canuck lead to 3-1 at 12:14. With the teams playing four-on-four, Bouchard was left alone in the slot and beat Silvos with a high shot.
The Oilers had some good looks on two first-period power plays, including Ryan Nugent-Hopkins hitting the post, but it was the Canucks who opened the scoring at 10:11. Bains found a loose puck in the Oilers zone and tossed it along the boards to Hughes, whose shot from just inside the blue line beat a screened Skinner.
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Vancouver went ahead 2-0 about seven minute later. With all the Oiler players focused on Pettersson along the boards, the Canucks centre passed to Soucy alone in the slot. He beat Skinner with a rifle of a shot to the stick side.
The last time the teams played a game that mattered the Oilers defeated the Canucks in Game 7 of the Western Conference semifinal. Edmonton went on to lose Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final to the Florida Panthers.
NOTES: Joshua is still recovering from off-season surgery to remove a tumour related to testicular cancer, but is back with the team 91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ¦ Canuck forward J.T. Miller played his first game of the exhibition season after taking a knock during training camp. 91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ¦ The last time the Oilers lost in the Stanley Cup final was 2006. The team missed the playoffs for the next 10 years. 91ÂãÁÄÊÓƵ¦ Forward Connor Garland was one of the Canuck scratches.
UP NEXT: The Canucks open their regular season with home games Wednesday against the Calgary Flames and Friday against the Philadelphia Flyers.
The Oilers open the season with a four-game homestand facing the Winnipeg Jets Wednesday, Chicago Blackhawks Saturday, Calgary Oct. 13 and Philadelphia Oct. 15.
Jim Morris, The Canadian Press
