from Terry Jones of the Edmonton Sun,

At least one of the Edmonton Oilers had an understanding of how big the game was for them Thursday night at Rogers Place.

“If we lose, they take our playoff spot. It’s a big matchup. You never want to give your playoff spot up,” said Connor McDavid at the morning skate.

Unfortunately, McDavid delivered that message to the media, not to his teammates.

Five nights before turning the calendar ahead to 2019, the Oilers appeared to have turned it back to the decade of darkness — back before they were wearing orange, back when fans were throwing blue home jerseys on the ice.

To suggest they didn’t show up for this extra large Pacific Division game to open what I call Separation Season would be a massive understatement.

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from Ben Kuzma of the Vancouver Province,

Points to ponder as the Canucks quickly found their post-Christmas break stride, were on their heels in the second period and found a way to grind out a 4-2 win over the Oilers to hit the .500 mark (18-18-4) to start a six-game trip off on the right foot:

Meaningful games mean everything

The Canucks handed the Oilers their fourth-consecutive loss and fifth in the last six games by finding a way to win.

It wasn’t pretty because aside from Elias Pettersson doing his electric thing in the first period, it was about grinding one out. It was about the fourth line being as important — or more important — than the first on a night when the Oilers made a strong second-period surge with an 11-5 advantage and 22-11 shot dominance after 40 minutes.

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Game highlights below.