Oilers 4, Canucks 0: Taylor Hall needed only 7 minutes, 53 seconds to complete his third career hat trick and Devan Dubnyk made 23 saves as host Edmonton scored on its first three shots and cruised to its season-high third straight victory.
Defenseman Ladislav Smid scored and set up a goal and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins notched a pair of assists for the Oilers, who set a franchise record for the fastest three tallies to start a game (2:43).
After failing to score on a penalty shot in overtime against Vancouver on Feb. 4, Hall wasted little time redeeming himself with a slap shot that beat Cory Schneider to the glove side just 16 seconds into the contest.
Smid's blast from the point doubled the advantage at 2:05 and chased Schneider, who was making his seventh straight start. Hall offered a rude greeting to Roberto Luongo (20 saves) by scoring 38 seconds later before capping the hat trick by tucking the puck between the netminder's pads for a power-play tally.
Staked to an early advantage, Dubnyk brought Vancouver's six-game winning streak to an emphatic halt. He registered his sixth career shutout and second of 2013 by turning aside 10 shots in the first period, eight in the second and five in the third.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Hall's hat trick was the fastest to start a game in franchise history, besting Hall of Famer Wayne Gretzky's effort of 12:38 versus Quebec in 1986. Hall's previous hat tricks came against Atlanta on Feb. 19, 2011 and versus Chicago exactly nine months later. ... The Oilers' previous record for their fastest three goals to start a game was 3:25 - set against the Colorado Rockies in 1981. ... Playing in his 400th career NHL game, Edmonton C Sam Gagner won just 4-of-12 faceoffs and logged over 16 minutes of ice time.
Vancouver | Edmonton | |
N/A | Points | Taylor Hall 3 |
N/A | Goals | Taylor Hall 3 |
N/A | Assists | Ryan Nugent-Hopkins 2 |
N/A | Power Play Goals | Taylor Hall 1 |
N/A | Short Handed Goals | N/A |
Roberto Luongo .909 | Save Percentage | Devan Dubnyk 1.000 |
Roberto Luongo 20 | Saves | Devan Dubnyk 23 |
Team | Shots | Goals | Power Play | Penalty Kill | Penalty Mins | Face Offs Won |
Vancouver | 23 | 0 | 0-3 | 2-3 | 16 | 26 |
Edmonton | 24 | 4 | 1-3 | 3-3 | 16 | 22 |