Vancouver, Canada

The Vancouver Canucks were the NHL's best team during the regular season but that won't mean much to them if they can't top it off with a Stanley Cup.

Vancouver won the Presidents' Trophy with a 3-0 victory over Edmonton to end the regular season and will be the No. 1 overall seed in the playoffs. The Canucks face the eighth-seeded Los Angeles Kings in the first round.

"Our guys really came out and showed that they wanted to play well," Vancouver coach Alain Vigneault said after the win over Edmonton. "We pushed the pace, took the momentum, and showed we wanted this."

Vancouver recorded 111 points to edge the St. Louis Blues (109) and the New York Rangers (109) for the top overall seed in the playoffs. It is the Canucks' second-straight Presidents' Trophy.

But regular season honors aren't the goal of this Canucks team, a title is, especially after last season when they lost the Stanley Cup finals to the Boston Bruins in seven games.

In other Western Conference matchups the No. 2 Blues face the seventh-seeded San Jose Sharks, No. 3 Phoenix meets No. 6 Chicago and Nashville and Detroit meet in the 4-5 series.

In the East the Rangers are the top seed and start a run for the Cup against No. 8 Ottawa. The Senators won the regular season series with New York 3-1 and outscored them 7-1 in the last two meetings.

The defending champion Bruins are the second seed in the East and face No. 7 Washington in the first round. No. 3 Florida and No. 6 New Jersey square off and the second and third best teams in the conference meet in the series between No. 4 Pittsburgh and No. 5 Philadelphia.

Oilers get top pick in NHL draft for third straight year

Edmonton, AB, Canada

The Edmonton Oilers, the team with the second-fewest points in the NHL, gained the top pick in the NHL draft lottery.

They edged out the Columbus Blue Jackets to get the No. 1 selection at the June 22 event.

"It was like getting an unexpected gift under the Christmas tree," said Oilers general manager Steve Tambellini, according to the Edmonton Journal. "I was sitting with Marc Crawford (former coach and TSN analyst) before the TV show and he said, 'You know, you're going to win the lottery.' I said to Crow, 'No, we're not. the odds aren't in our favour. Not going to happen.' Then when they called us."

The Montreal Canadiens will pick third, followed by the New York Islanders at four and the Toronto Maple Leafs at No. 5.

The Anaheim Ducks, Minnesota Wild, Carolina Hurricanes, Winnipeg Jets and Tampa Bay Lightning round out the top 10.

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