Canucks edge Oilers 3-1, closer to clinching Pacific Division title

Barring a minor miracle, the Vancouver Canucks will claim the Pacific Division title.

Barring a minor miracle, the Vancouver Canucks will claim the Pacific Division title.

Casey DeSmith made 32 saves for the win as the Canucks swept their season series with Edmonton, defeating the Oilers 3-1 in their fourth meeting of the season on Saturday.

“We’ve been working to trend back to our top level as a group and I thought that was a really good effort by us,” said Canucks defenceman Tyler Myers. “I didn’t think we tried to force things, we let the game come to us as a team and it was a great team win.”

Sam Lafferty, Pius Suter and Dakota Joshua scored for the Canucks (49-22-9) who all but guaranteed themselves first place in the Pacific Division, now sitting five points up on Edmonton, which still has an extremely slight chance with three games remaining to Vancouver’s two.

“We knew this was a four-point swing toward that goal that we had,” DeSmith said. “It’s not the ultimate goal that we have this season, but it’s definitely something we’ve been working toward and it’s something we take pride in."

Evander Kane replied for the Oilers (48-25-6) who lost their second game in a row.

“It was a competitive game, two teams getting ready for playoffs,” said Oilers forward Warren Foegele. “We knew this was an important game. We’re just trying to play the right way heading into playoffs. I thought we played strong. Disappointed we didn’t get the two points.”