In Vancouver, it is now a case of just trying to find a goal. On Thursday night, Mike Smith made 32 saves and the Edmonton Oilers shut out the Canucks, 3-0.
“I don’t care if it’s a shutout,” Smith said. “I don’t care how many goals there are. I want to win. Shutouts are hard to get, especially now with how many power plays there are, but it’s not just a credit to the goalie, it’s a credit to the team in front of him and what they do.”
Edmonton improved to 14-8-0 off their fifth straight win.
“I like the strides we’re taking,” Edmonton head coach Dave Tippett said. “Smitty’s come in and our goaltending has given us a real boost.”
Connor McDavid ad a goal and two points in the win.
The Canucks are heading in the opposite direction, they are 2-9-2 in their last 13 games and struggling to find their offense.
“We’re just not putting the puck in the net when we need to right now,” Vancouver head coach Travis Green said. “We had a lot of good looks tonight. We had some guys that haven’t scored in a while that normally that puck probably goes in for them. You feel for those guys because you know they want to score bad and help.” 
The Oilers picked up two power-play markers off strikes from Alex Chiasson and Jesse Puljujarvi.
“Our guys just ate pucks tonight,” Smith said. “That’s a huge part of it. You’ve got guys out there putting their bodies on the line. It’s a huge thing when your PK gets some huge kills and your power play goes out and scores one.”
Vancouver dropped to 8-14-2.
“You get a little frustrated,” the Canucks’ Alexander Edler said. “We played a better game tonight but it came down to the special teams, and they scored twice on the power play.”
Thatcher Demko made 31 saves in the loss.
“We’ve been playing a lot better and just not getting the results, and obviously that has a different kind of frustration,” Demko said. “It’s another thing this team is going to have to battle through.”
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