In Vancouver, the Canucks’ Brock Boeser hit for four goals on Wednesday night in an 8-1 thrashing of the Edmonton Oilers.
That’s nearly 24% of his entire production from last season.
“I’d say it’s pretty high,” Boeser said of his confidence. “I got to that mindset in the summer where I’ve got to be a better hockey player and really work hard. I came back and it continues every day. I’ve got to have that same mindset tomorrow, the next practice, the morning skate, I’ve got to keep it going.”
Thatcher Demko made 21 saves to get the win, but left the game game just past the midway point of the third period with a flu bug.
“He started feeling dehydrated,” Canucks coach Rock Tocchet said. “He didn’t want to come out but when he [vomited] in his mask I said, ‘You’ve got to come out.’”
Casey DeSmith made five saves in relief.
Leon Draisaitl was the lone striker for the Oilers in the loss.
“We laid an egg tonight. We all own it,” Edmonton coach Jay Woodcroft said. “We’re all in in this one together, and the bottom line is we were at a preseason level of work ethic and a preseason level of execution, all of us, and we got a lesson in regular-season work ethic and regular-season battle level and we were not good enough tonight to a man. Every single one of us.”
Conor Garland got the scoring going just ahead of the midway point of the fist period for a 1-0 lead to the Canucks.
Boeser then scored three straight, the third on the power play in the middle frame to chase Campbell.
“Not sure how to explain that start to your season,” said Oilers captain Connor McDavid, who had one assist and was minus-3. “We obviously want to learn from it. We want to see where things went wrong and learn from it and get ready to go again. We play Saturday (against the Canucks), excited to play at home, excited to play these guys again, another opportunity to redeem ourselves.”
Draisaitl then scored to echo his coach’s hope on the goalie change to make it 4-1.
Vancouver replied with a marker from Elias Pettersson for a 5-1 lead, and Boeser scored his fourth for a 6-1 advantage at 5:43 of the third.
J.T. Miller (power play) and Dakota Joshua scored late in the third for the 8-1 final score.
“We didn’t give them many opportunities today,” Miller said. “It means a lot. I’ve been thinking about this game for a while. We knew this matchup was probably coming and when you go against the best in the world (McDavid and Draisaitl), it’s very exciting and challenging.”
Jack Campbell got the start for the Oilers and was given the hook after surrendering four goals, and making 12 saves.
“We’re trying to stem the tide a little bit, change momentum,” Woodcroft said. “It didn’t work. We didn’t get much better.”
Stuart Skinner made 12 saves in the loss.
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