• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

Powerful Canucks host lowly Oilers

Apr 2, 2011 - 4:05 PM (Sports Network) - There isn't much left for the Vancouver Canucks to accomplish this regular season, so they'll have to settle for extending the Edmonton Oilers' longest losing streak of the season in the opener of a home- and-home series tonight at Rogers Arena.

Coupled with a loss by the Philadelphia Flyers earlier in the night, the Canucks captured their first ever Presidents' Trophy with a 3-1 home win over the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday. Daniel Sedin had a goal and an assist, and Roberto Luongo made 18 saves just two days after Vancouver locked up the Western Conference's top seed.

Now the Canucks will have home-ice advantage throughout the playoffs as they search for their first-ever Stanley Cup championship.

Vancouver has already set new club single-season records in points (113), wins (52) and road wins (26).

"We knew we had an opportunity to wrap up first place in our home building and in front of our home fans," Canucks head coach Alain Vigneault said. "We went out and played hard."

Not only have franchise marks fallen, but Sedin leads the NHL with a career- high 100 points as he tries to capture the Art Ross Trophy just one season after his twin brother Henrik claimed the award. Luongo, meanwhile, leads the league with 37 wins.

Vancouver has won five straight and 12 of its last 13, with Daniel Sedin notching nine goals and 21 points in that span. He has tallied 56 points in 58 career games versus the Oilers.

Vancouver has outscored Edmonton, 15-7, in taking all four meetings this year and has won eight of nine and 10 of the past 14 matchups overall. The Oilers have also dropped five in a row and seven of their last eight at Vancouver.

The Oilers will host the Canucks on Tuesday and will hopefully have snapped their 11-game slide since then. Edmonton's current losing streak is its longest since an 0-11-2 slide from Dec. 31-Jan. 30 of last season.

Edmonton is coming off its 16th straight setback at Minnesota on Thursday, losing 4-2. Linus Omark and Tom Gilbert both scored and Nikolai Khabibulin made just 18 saves on 22 shots.

"We didn't measure up quite like we needed to," Oilers head coach Tom Renney said. "But we're not packing it in. We're not quitting."

Edmonton hasn't won since March 5 and sits last in the NHL with 57 points. The club has been playing without its top three scorers -- Sam Gagner, Taylor Hall and Ales Hemsky -- due to injury.