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Mighty Canucks try to bounce back in Edmonton

Apr 5, 2011 - 3:18 PM (Sports Network) - Having already claimed their first ever Presidents' Trophy, the Vancouver Canucks have nothing to play for until the playoffs begin next week.

That certainly showed in their most recent trip to the ice.

The Canucks will try to avoid another setback to the basement-residing Edmonton Oilers this evening at Rexall Place.

Vancouver has already set new franchise records for points (113), wins (52) and road wins (26) in a season, leaving it little motivation to get up for Saturday's opener of a home-and-home set with Edmonton, which is last in the NHL with 59 points. It wasn't a huge surprise then when then the Oilers skated to a 4-1 victory behind goals from Jordan Eberle, Linus Omark, Magnus Paajarvi and Kurtis Foster to snap an 11-game losing streak (0-8-3).

"It feels good," said Edmonton forward Andrew Cogliano, who had two assists in the surprise victory. "(But) it's small consolation for the season we're having."

Devan Dubnyk made 40 saves and will get the start again tonight as the Oilers look to halt the Canucks' franchise-record nine-game road winning streak this evening. Dubnyk improved to 1-1-1 with a 2.33 goals-against average in his career versus Vancouver.

Edmonton will now look to snap a four-game slide at home as it tries to win back-to-back games versus Vancouver for the first time since 2007-08. The Canucks had won their first four versus the Oilers this season prior to Saturday's setback and has still won eight of the last 10 meetings overall and three of its last four at Rexall Place.

Vancouver had a five-game win streak end with the most recent loss and it was just its second setback in the past 14 games. Alexandre Burrows had the goal and backup Cory Schneider yielded all four goals on 34 shots.

"There might be a temptation to do that [write this game off] seeing as how we've clinched the Presidents' Trophy in our last game, but that being said, I think you can't underestimate how hard Edmonton played and how well they executed tonight," Canucks head coach Alain Vigneault told his team's website. "They played a real strong game, they were obviously excited and motivated about playing us and they deserved to win."

One of the Canucks' main goals is to get healthy before the playoffs. Forward Mikael Samuelsson is expected to play tonight for the first time since suffering a thigh injury on March 18, while blueliners Andrew Alberts (broken wrist) and Alexander Edler (back) are both nearing a return.

Roberto Luongo is likely to get the start tonight in net for the Canucks as he looks to tune up for the postseason. Luongo leads the NHL with 37 wins and is third with a 2.14 goals-against average and .927 save percentage.

The veteran is 18-8-2 with a tie and 2.27 GAA lifetime versus the Oilers.