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Instant Reaction: Canucks lose 6-1 to Oilers as 2025-26 season comes to an end
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Photo credit: © Perry Nelson-Imagn Images
David Quadrelli
Apr 16, 2026, 23:32 EDT
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Welcome back to Instant Reaction, the series here at CanucksArmy where we give you our instant reaction to tonight’s Vancouver Canucks game and ask our readers to do the same in the comments section below!

Starting Lineup

First Period

The Canucks rolled into tonight with three straight games, which is obviously a ton of fun. Even more fun — the Canucks had a chance to absolutely sewer the Oilers’ hopes of a deep playoff run with a win tonight. As we wrote earlier today, if the Oilers were to have lost tonight, it would have left the door wide open for them to fall to the second wild card spot, which would give them a first round playoff matchup against the Colorado Avalanche.
So, yeah, there was still plenty to play for in game 82.
Unfortunately for the Canucks and their playoff-spoiling dreams, the Oilers came out ready to play in this one, as Edmonton clearly understood what was on the line and the importance of taking care of business tonight. Just under two minutes into the first, Trent Frederic appeared to have scored his fifth goal of the season on a redirect of a hard pass towards the blue paint (but the goal was later credited to Josh Samanski):
1-0 Oilers. 
The Oilers kept pouring on the pressure from there, sharpening their game for the battle that is the Stanley Cup Playoffs (and of course hoping their first test wouldn’t be against Colorado). Less than five minutes after their first goal, Matt Savoie finished a tic-tac-toe play from Connor McDavid and Evan Bouchard to push the Oilers’ early lead to two:
Playing in his eighth NHL game, Ty Mueller scored the first goal of his career after taking an alley oop pass from Curtis “Stockton” Douglas off his skate and moving in on Connor Ingram, beating the Oilers’ netminder five hole after a nice little deke. What a pass, what a finish.
2-1. 
The Oilers got a power play opportunity, and that was where Connor McDavid made magic happen for the first time on the night. After Drew O’Connor and Liam Öhgren broke in on a two on one, with O’Connor’s pass going behind Öhgren and jumpstarting an odd-man rush for the Oilers, with McDavid leading the way. McDavid drew in Tom Willander and had all eyes on him, then made a beautiful backhand pass to Matt Savoie, who ripped home Edmonton’s third goal of the game (and his second of the period).
3-1. 
Savoie (and let’s be honest, McDavid) wasn’t done there, either. In the final minute of the opening period, McDavid activated down the right side in the Canucks’ end before backhanding a perfect pass over to Savoie, who one-timed his third goal of the night.
4-1. 
That first period from McDavid is a nice reminder of just how important landing a game-breaking talent in the draft is to any team’s rebuild. May 5th folks…
And we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention the fact that DPetey got into a fight with Colton Dach. Since our own Tyson Cole snapped them fighting after practice, Zeev Buium and now Pettersson have both fought. When will Tom Willander get his first? Vote on the winner of Pettersson’s fight over at hockeyfights.com!

Second Period

Straight up, the Oilers were putting the hammer down on the Canucks. They were categorically controlling this game from the start, and the shot chart read 19-5 in favour of Edmonton after five minutes of play into the second.
We got another good scrap, though! And yet another instance of a Canuck not hesitating to step in to defend a teammate who was on the receiving end of a big hit. If that’s going to be a staple of the Canucks’ new culture, sign me the hell up. O’Connor ate some quick lefts in his first career fight, but not hesitating to jump in against Connor Murphy is absolutely a great look for him.
Halfway into the second, Adam Henrique was assessed two minutes for tripping Marco Rossi, giving the Canucks their first power play opportunity of the game. Boeser and DeBrusk got shots off on Ingram, and Elias Pettersson rifled a slap shot over the crossbar from the right circle, but that was it for the man advantage.
Towards the end of the second, my dear colleague Baggedmilk from Oilers Nation texted me: “Is this what you’ve been watching for months? This is a special flavour of bad.”
Yes.
Late in the second, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored Edmonton’s fifth goal of the game.
The Canucks had three shots in that period.

Third Period

The Canucks were getting thoroughly outplayed in this game, and that continued into the third.
Eight minutes into the final period of the Canucks’ season, Colton Dach scored his fifth goal of the year to make it 6-1.
It’s fitting that this nightmare of a season came to a close with a game like this one. It’s a good reminder just how much work this team has ahead of it to built itself into a true contender. If they’re patient, maybe, just maybe they can pull it off and get back to being a regular playoff team like they were over a decade ago.
And if you’re reading this far, I just wanted to take a second to say thank you for reading along all season long. This was a trying season, but I thoroughly enjoyed writing Instant Reaction (on most nights) and interacting with our readers in the comments section. So for one last time this season…
What’s your instant reaction to tonight’s game? Let us know in the comments section below!
And for the final time this season, check out Rink Wide Vancouver LIVE on YouTube below!

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