Jaroslav Spacek, Ryan Smyth and Raffi Torres scored in regulation for the Oilers.
Henrik Zetterberg had two goals, and Mathieu Schneider added another for Detroit.
The Vancouver Canucks fired head coach Marc Crawford on Tuesday after missing the National Hockey League playoffs for the first time in five seasons.
Crawford was behind the Canucks' bench for seven seasons, leading them to the Northwest Division title in 2003-2004.
They entered this season expected to be one of the top teams in the Western Conference, but instead finished ninth, losing six of the last eight games to fall three points behind the Edmonton Oilers.
Crawford, who led the Colorado Avalanche to a Stanley Cup in 1996, finished his stint in Vancouver with a 246-197-70 record, but only won one series in four trips to the playoffs. The Canucks twice lost a Game 7 on home ice under his leadership.
He had one year left on his contract.
Crawford, who also coached the Colorado franchise, has 411 career NHL wins.
Crawford played every game of a nine-year pro career in the Canucks organization, recording 19 goals and 31 assists in 176 NHL games. He began his NHL coaching career in Quebec in 1994-1995, becoming the youngest to win the Jack Adams award as coach of the year that season.
Crawford was also the head coach of Team Canada at the 1998 Olympics in Nagano, Japan.
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