EDMONTON – Alexander Edler had a goal and an assist as the Vancouver Canucks came away with a 2-1 road win over the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night.
Nick Bonino also scored for the Canucks, who improved to 4-2-0 in pre-season play.
Teddy Purcell responded for the Oilers, who dropped to 4-3-0 in exhibition action.
There was no scoring until there was just 1:19 left in the first period, when Edmonton snagged the lead.
Jesse Joensuu followed up on a two-goal night against Arizona the night before by showing some solid hustle to fight off two defenders in a race to the puck along the boards. Joensuu fed it to Purcell, who scored his first goal as an Oiler since coming over in a trade with Tampa Bay this summer.
READ MORE: Jesse Joensuu scores twice as Oilers beat Coyotes 3-2 in pre-season play
Purcell beat Canucks goalie Eddie Lack with a backhand in tight, the first goal Lack has allowed in the pre-season. Lack was shaken up by a collision on the play, but was able to continue in net.
It was a pretty feisty affair with several fights, punctuated by a brief stretch early in the second that saw Cal O’Reilly drag down Edmonton’s Nikita Nikitin, forcing him from the game with an ankle injury. Vancouver’s Tim Sestito then took a run at Oilers goalie Viktor Fasth, earning the ire of rookie defenceman Darnell Nurse and later a fight with Kevin Westgarth.
Vancouver tied the game 11 minutes into the second period with a short-handed goal as Edler made a long feed to Bonino and he beat Fasth with a quick shot.
The Canucks went up 2-1 with five minutes left in the second while the teams were playing four men a side as Niklas Jensen fed a wide-open Edler in the slot and he blasted it into the Edmonton net.
There was no scoring in a largely uneventful third period.
The two teams will close out the pre-season with a rematch in Vancouver on Saturday night.
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