Brown, McDavid lead Oilers to 7-3 win over Canucks

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Connor Brown scored twice, Connor McDavid had a goal and two assists, and the Edmonton Oilers beat the Vancouver Canucks 7-3 on Saturday night.

Leon Draisaitl and Brett Kulak each had a goal and an assist, and Corey Perry and Victor Arvidsson also scored for the Oilers. Mattias Janmark had three assists and Stuart Skinner had 17 saves.

Elias Pettersson had a goal and an assist, and Filip Hronek and Pius Suter also scored for Vancouver, which snapped a three-game win streak. Kevin Lankinen allowed seven goals and made 20 saves before he was pulled midway through the third period. Arturs Silovs stopped all four shots he faced.

The Canucks were without star forward Brock Boeser, recovering from an upper-body injury after getting hit in the head by Los Angeles' Tanner Jeannot on Thursday.

Canucks: Vancouver has given up the first goal in seven straight, all in the first eight minutes of the game. The Canucks have rallied for comeback victories in most of those appearances, going 4-2-1 across the stretch.

Oilers: The lackluster power play went 1 for 3 after coming in 26th in the league at 14.3%. With Hronek in the box for holding, McDavid tapped in a backdoor shot to boost Edmonton’s lead to 5-2 midway through the third period.

Edmonton broke the game open 6:10 into the third when former Oilers defenseman Vincent Desharnais couldn’t clear a puck from in front of the Vancouver net. Brown picked it up and sent it up and in over Lankinen for his first goal of the game to make it 4-2.

McDavid now has 67 points (24 goals, 43 assists) in 41 career games against the Canucks — the most he has against any team.

Oilers host New York Islanders on Tuesday night to open a two-game homestand, and Canucks host Calgary.

AP NHL: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL

Vancouver Canucks' Vincent Desharnais (73) gets into a scuffle with Edmonton Oilers' Zach Hyman (18) and Connor McDavid, back left, during the first period of an NHL hockey game in Vancouver, on Saturday, November 9, 2024. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP)

Edmonton Oilers' Leon Draisaitl (29) and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (93) celebrate Draisaitl's goal against Vancouver Canucks goalie Kevin Lankinen (32) as Filip Hronek (17) checks Edmonton's Connor McDavid (97), during the first period of an NHL hockey game in Vancouver, on Saturday, November 9, 2024. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP)

Edmonton Oilers' Connor McDavid, from left to right, Leon Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins celebrate Draisaitl's goal against the Vancouver Canucks during the first period of an NHL hockey game in Vancouver, on Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP)

Edmonton Oilers' Leon Draisaitl, front right, scores against Vancouver Canucks goalie Kevin Lankinen (32) as Filip Hronek (17) and Edmonton's Connor McDavid (97) watch during the first period of an NHL hockey game in Vancouver, on Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP)

Edmonton Oilers' Leon Draisaitl celebrates his goal against the Vancouver Canucks during the first period of an NHL hockey game in Vancouver, on Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP)

Edmonton Oilers' Viktor Arvidsson (33) celebrates his goal against the Vancouver Canucks during the second of an NHL hockey game in Vancouver, on Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP)

Edmonton Oilers' Viktor Arvidsson (33) celebrates his goal against the Vancouver Canucks during the second of an NHL hockey game in Vancouver, on Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP)

Vancouver Canucks' Elias Pettersson, back centre, Jake DeBrusk (74) and Carson Soucy (7) celebrate Pettersson's goal as Edmonton Oilers' Connor McDavid, front right, skates to the bench during the second of an NHL hockey game in Vancouver, on Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP)

Edmonton Oilers' Mattias Janmark, back from left to right, Corey Perry and Ty Emberson celebrate Perry's goal against Vancouver Canucks goalie Kevin Lankinen during the second of an NHL hockey game in Vancouver, on Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP)

Edmonton Oilers' Corey Perry (90) scores against Vancouver Canucks goalie Kevin Lankinen (32) during the second of an NHL hockey game in Vancouver, on Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP)

Edmonton Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner, from left to right, Troy Stecher, Zach Hyman, Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid celebrate after Edmonton defeated the Vancouver Canucks 7-3 during an NHL hockey game in Vancouver, on Saturday, November 9, 2024. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP)

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Nearly 200 absentee ballots somehow went uncounted in Wisconsin's liberal capital after the Nov. 5 election, prompting state election officials to launch an investigation Thursday into whether the city clerk broke the law.

The Wisconsin Elections Commission voted unanimously to investigate whether Madison City Clerk Maribeth Witzel-Behl failed to comply with state law or abused her discretion. Commission members said they were concerned the clerk's office didn't inform them of the problem until late December, almost a month and a half after the election. Commission Chair Ann Jacobs certified Wisconsin's election results on Nov. 29.

Witzel-Behl's office said in a statement that the number of uncounted votes didn't affect the outcome of any race or referendum on the ballots. But Jacobs said the oversight was “so egregious” that the commission must determine what happened and how it can be prevented as spring elections approach.

“We are the final canvassers," Jacobs said. “We are the final arbiters of votes in the state of Wisconsin and we need to know why those ballots weren't included anywhere.”

Witzel-Behl said in an email to The Associated Press that her office looks forward to working with the commission to determine what happened and how to prevent the same issues in future elections.

It’s another misstep for Witzel-Behl, who announced in September that her office mistakenly sent out up to 2,000 duplicate absentee ballots. She blamed it on a data processing error.

According to election commission documents, the commission learned of the uncounted ballots on Dec. 18, when Witzel-Behl's staff told the commission that they recorded more absentee ballots as received than ballots counted in three city wards.

The commission asked Witzel-Behl to provide a detailed statement, which she did two days later. The memo stated that on Nov. 12, the clerk’s office discovered 67 unprocessed ballots for Ward 65 and one unprocessed ballot for Ward 68 in a courier bag found in a vote tabulating machine.

The memo also stated that her office was reconciling ballots for Ward 56 on Dec. 3 when 125 unprocessed ballots were discovered in a sealed courier bag. Reconciliation is a post-election process in which officials account for every ballot created. That work begins immediately after an election. Clerks have 45 days to complete it.

The memo does not offer any explanation, saying only that the clerk's office planned “to debrief these incidents and implement better processes.”

The clerk's office issued a statement on Dec. 26 saying it had informed the elections commission and would send an apology letter to each affected voter.

Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway released her own statement the same day saying the clerk's office didn't tell her staff about the problem until Dec. 20. She said her office plans to review the city's election procedures.

“While the discovery of these unprocessed absentee ballots did not impact the results of any election or referendum, a discrepancy of this magnitude is unacceptable,” the mayor said in the statement.

Wisconsin is a perennial battleground state in presidential elections. Republican Donald Trump won the state this past November on his way to reclaiming the White House, beating Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris by about 29,000 votes.

Madison and surrounding Dane County are well-known liberal strongholds. Harris won 75% of the vote in the county in November.

This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Madison City Clerk Maribeth Witzel-Behl's last name.

FILE - Election workers process ballots for the 2024 General Election, Nov. 5, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash, File)