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DeSmith stops 32 shots and Canucks sweep season series with 3-1 win over Oilers

EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Casey DeSmith made 32 saves and the Vancouver Canucks strengthened their lead atop the Pacific Division with a 3-1 win over the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday night.

Sam Lafferty, Pius Suter and Dakota Joshua scored for the Canucks, who won all four games between the teams this season. Vancouver has a five-point lead in the division over Edmonton, which still has an extremely slight chance with three games remaining to Vancouver’s two.

Evander Kane scored for the Oilers, who were again without captain Connor McDavid, who missed his third straight game with a lower-body injury and is considered day-to-day. Stuart Skinner had 24 saves.

Lafferty scored with just 16 seconds remaining in the first period when he blasted a shot stick-side that beat Skinner for his career-best 13th goal of the season. J.T. Miller picked up an assist to extend his points streak to 10 games.

The Canucks went up 2-0 with nine minutes to play in the second period as Tyler Myers sent a puck toward the net that was deflected in by Suter.

Kane scored with 2:12 to play in the second period, deflecting Darnell Nurse's long shot on net.

The Oilers pushed hard to equal things up but a poorly-timed attempt to pull Skinner for an extra attacker allowed Joshua an easy empty-netter with less than two minutes to play.

Canucks goalie Thatcher Demko missed his 14th straight game despite being a full participant in the Canucks morning skate on Saturday.

UP NEXT

Canucks: Host Calgary on Tuesday night in their regular-season home finale.

Oilers: Host San Jose on Monday night to finish a four-game homestand and their regular season home schedule.

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AP NHL: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL

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