Oilers at Canucks
The Vancouver Canucks vie for home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs when they attempt to complete a season sweep of the visiting Edmonton Oilers on Saturday. While officially having punched its ticket for a sixth playoff appearance in seven seasons, Vancouver holds a two-point edge over third-place Calgary as the Pacific Division rivals jockey for position ahead of their first-round meeting.
"It's going to be awesome," Daniel Sedin said of facing the Flames. "All-Canadian matchup, you can't ask for more. Hopefully, we get home ice and it's going to be a lot of fun." The easiest way for the Canucks to clinch home-ice advantage is to dispatch the Oilers, with whom they've won all four meetings this season. Sedin has scored a goal and set up seven others versus Edmonton while twin brother Henrik has one tally and five assists in the season series. Vancouver has won two in a row and four of its last six heading into the regular-season finale, while Edmonton has been outscored 22-8 en route to dropping four of its last five.
TV: 10 p.m. ET, CBC
ABOUT THE OILERS (24-44-13): Although Edmonton is playing out the string for the ninth straight season, goaltender Laurent Brossoit did his best to make a memorable impression in his NHL debut on Thursday. "I wanted to show well and show what I could do, and I think I did that," the 22-year-old said after making 49 saves in a 3-1 loss to San Jose. Nail Yakupov notched an assist in a 4-2 setback to Los Angeles on Tuesday before netting his team's lone goal two nights later.
ABOUT THE CANUCKS (47-29-5): Vancouver will know its postseason situation prior to the opening faceoff, as Calgary visits Winnipeg on Saturday afternoon - and anything short of a Flames win would secure home-ice advantage for the Canucks. Eddie Lack turned aside 28 shots in a 5-0 victory over Arizona on Thursday, but Ryan Miller could get the nod Saturday for his first action since spraining his knee on Feb. 22. "You have to have two goalies going into the playoffs," coach Willie Desjardins said. "It would be tough on Ryan if he ended up playing in the playoffs without having played in so long."
OVERTIME
1. Vancouver RW Radim Vrbata, who leads the team with 31 goals, scored twice in a 5-4 victory over Edmonton on Nov. 19 and has notched four tallies and two assists in the season series.
2. After collecting 11 power-play goals in a six-game stretch, the Oilers are just 2-for-19 with the man advantage in their last 10 contests.
3. The Sedin twins are the only players remaining on Vancouver's roster that competed in the last postseason series versus Calgary in 2004.