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)

In picking Fox News Channel host Pete Hegseth to lead the Department of Defense, President-elect Donald Trump has selected a military veteran and popular conservative media personality with a large following of his own.

Hegseth, 44, has developed a close rapport with Trump, who also reportedly considered him for a post in his first administration. Hegseth has lobbied Trump to release service members accused of war crimes.

Here are a few things to know about Hegseth.

Co-host of Fox News Channel's “Fox & Friends Weekend,” Hegseth has been a contributor to the network for a decade. He developed a friendship with Trump through the president-elect's regular appearances on the show. In a statement, a Fox News spokesperson complimented Hegseth's military knowledge, saying his “insights and analysis especially about the military resonated deeply with our viewers.”

He's also written a number of books, several for the network's publishing imprint, including “The War on Warriors: Behind the Betrayal of the Men Who Keep Us Free.” In announcing Hegseth's nomination, Trump complimented that book, noting its “nine weeks on the New York Times best-sellers list, including two weeks at NUMBER ONE.”

Hegseth has served in the military, although he lacks senior military or national security experience.

After graduating from Princeton University in 2003, Hegseth was commissioned as an infantry captain in the Army National Guard, serving overseas in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as at Guantanamo Bay.

He was formerly head of the Concerned Veterans for America, a group backed by conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch, and also unsuccessfully ran for the Senate in Minnesota in 2012. According to his Fox News bio, he has a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

As Trump formulated his first Cabinet following his 2016 win, he reportedly considered Hegseth to run the Department of Veterans Affairs. He again considered Hegseth when Secretary David Shulkin faced criticism before his ouster in 2018.

In 2019, Hegseth urged Trump to pardon U.S. service members who had been accused of war crimes. He advocated for the servicemen's cases on his show and online, interviewing relatives on Fox News. He posted on social media that pardons from Trump “would be amazing," and added hashtags with the names of those accused to reporting mentioning his private lobbying of the then-president.

The effort was successful, with Trump that year pardoning a former U.S. Army commando set to stand trial in the killing of a suspected Afghan bomb-maker, as well as a former Army lieutenant convicted of murder for ordering his men to fire upon three Afghans, killing two. Trump also ordered a promotion for a decorated Navy SEAL convicted of posing with a dead Islamic State captive in Iraq.

Hegseth would lead the Pentagon with burgeoning conflicts on multiple fronts, including Russia’s war in Ukraine, the ongoing attacks in the Middle East by Iranian proxies, the push for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas and Hezbollah, and escalating worries about the growing alliance between Russia and North Korea.

While the Pentagon is considered a key job in any administration, defense secretary was a tumultuous post during Trump’s first term. Five men held the job during Trump's four years.

Trump’s relationship with his civilian and military leaders during those years was fraught with tension, confusion and frustration, as they struggled to temper or even simply interpret presidential tweets and pronouncements that blindsided them with abrupt policy decisions they weren’t prepared to explain or defend.

Many of the generals who worked in his first administration — both on active duty and retired — have slammed him as unfit to serve in the Oval Office. He has condemned them in return.

Tara Copp in Washington contributed to this report.

Meg Kinnard reported from Chapin, South Carolina, and can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP

FILE - Pete Hegseth walks to an elevator for a meeting with President-elect Donald Trump at Trump Tower in New York, Dec. 15, 2016. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

File - President Donald Trump appears on Fox & Friends co-host Pete Hegseth at a Wounded Warrior Project Soldier Ride event in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Thursday, April 6, 2017. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)