Oilers 6, Canucks 2
EDMONTON, Alberta -- In the house that Wayne Gretzky built, Leon Draisaitl provided the exclamation point.
Draisaitl's third-period, power-play goal, scored at 18:03, went down as the final goal scored in the history of Rexall Place. The Oilers beat the Canucks 6-2 in the last game ever played at the 42-year-old arena.
Patrick Maroon scored twice for the Oilers, who got 25 saves from Cam Talbot.
With Hall of Famers such as Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier and Paul Coffey among the more than 130 Oilers alumni in attendance, the current edition of the team won the battle between two teams that were long out of the playoff race.
With so much pageantry around the closing of the arena, the game itself had the feel of a sideshow attraction. During breaks in play, the video screens were filled with homages to days of Oilers past.
Edmonton led 3-0 through two periods before Canucks defenseman Matt Bartkowski's point shot deflected off Oilers defenseman Adam Pardy and into the net at 5:21 of the third.
Maroon scored at 9:08, tipping home a shot from Jordan Eberle, to make it 4-1.
Eighteen seconds later, Taylor Hall made it 5-1, blowing down the left wing, cutting in front of goal and depositing a backhand past Canucks goalie Jacob Markstrom (32 saves).
Bo Horvat made it 5-2 at 12:09 of the third. However, Draisaitl made sure Horvat wouldn't become the answer to a trivia question when his shot from the slot became the 5,010th and final Oilers goal scored at Rexall Place.
Even though Rexall Place had a party atmosphere seldom seen in the 10 years since the Oilers last made the playoffs, the home team started flat.
It took nearly 11 minutes for the Oilers to register a shot on goal. And they really only had one golden scoring chance in the first period -- just before time expired -- when Hall had a tap-in effort that was stopped by the pad of Markstrom.
After a sleepy first period, the home fans got the chance to celebrate at 8:47 of the second period. Just seconds after the Oilers won a faceoff in the offensive zone, Nail Yakupov's wrist shot beat Markstrom over the shoulder on the short side.
At 13:16, seconds after the crowd roared in response to a video tribute to Rexall Place from Alberta native and Fox Sports 1 host Jay Onrait, they were on their feet to celebrate Patrick Maroon's goal. Like Yakupov, he beat Markstom over the shoulder.
With 2:34 left in the second period, Connor McDavid made it 3-0 when he poked home a loose puck in front of the net.
Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse left the game in the first period after a deflected puck caught him in the face. He did not return.
NOTES: The Canucks scratched D Yannick Weber. The Oilers scratched LW Luke Gazdic, C Anton Lander, RW Adam Cracknell, D Nikita Nikitin and D Adam Clendening. ... This was the 1,428th and final NHL regular-season game at Rexall Place. The Oilers move into the new downtown Rogers Place, which seats 18,641 for hockey, next season. ... The Oilers' final playoff game at Rexall Place was played nearly 10 years ago. On June 17, 2006, Edmonton defeated Carolina 4-0 in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup final, but the Hurricanes won the series. .... More than 130 Oilers alumni were on hand for a special 90-minute closing ceremony held after the final horn. The start time for the game was moved from 7 p.m. to 5 p.m. local time. ... A rally was held in front of City Hall with Oilers alumni to mark the occasion. ... There is still a summer filled with concerts at Rexall Place, and the 2017 World Curling Championships will be held there. A proposal is in front of city council to eventually turn the arena into a community sports facility with multiple rinks.