Third period rally lifts Canucks over Oilers

Quinn Hughes and Bo Horvat were the late strikers for Vancouver.

“Actually, Coach (Travis Green) called it,” Hughes said. “Going into the third, he said, ‘You’re going to be on one here.’ It was just the way the game was going. I was getting a lot of chances and we had a good screen, and [J.T. Miller] put it right in my wheelhouse.”

Jacob Markstrom made 27 saves in the win.

“I think we proved a lot,” Horvat said. “We played some pretty good hockey as of late; it was just a matter of us getting rewarded. Different guys stepped up at different times and in crucial times. To get three wins before Christmas, we’ve got to keep that confidence going.”

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Oscar Klefblom were the Oilers’ scorers.

“Obviously, we just couldn’t close it out,'” said Oilers center Connor McDavid, who had one assist. “A bit of a lucky break there on their shot and it goes off the guy’s skate, and maybe he kicks it, maybe he doesn’t, I don’t know.

“But then we have a chance on the power play and we don’t score, and they get a chance on their power play and they score, and that’s the difference.”

Tyler Motte opened the scoring for a 1-0 Canucks lead in the game.

“Winning fixes a lot of things,” Motte said. “As a group, we stuck together. We knew we had what it took in here; we just had to polish a few things up. When we play our game, we’ve seen it the last couple nights, we’re good.”

Loui Eriksson added a late empty-net goal for the sealer.

“It’s been a tough stretch of games, honestly,” the Oilers’ Connor McDavid said. “We’ve been on the road, then at home, we’ve been traveling a lot, playing lots of games in a short period of time. [We’re] obviously not making excuses for ourselves, but guys are tired and this break comes at a good time.”

[WATCH: All Oilers vs. Canucks highlights]

Mikko Koskinen made 24 saves in the loss.

“Usually when we’ve had the lead this year, we’ve held on well,” Nugent-Hopkins said. “We had our push; they just found a way to tie it up, and then the late penalty kind of killed us.”