In Edmonton, the Vancouver Canucks rallied in the third period on goals from Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Quinn Hughes to tie their match with the Oilers on Wednesday night before dropping the decision in the skills competition, 3-2. 
Kyle Turris scored the game’s deciding goal in the skill portion of the evening’s events.
“It’s so important to get the first win out of the way,” the Oilers’ Connor McDavid said. “I thought we played a great game all the way through and were just kind of undisciplined and took too many penalties. If you’re going to give a good power play five or six looks like we did, especially at a time where they needed one, they’re going to find a way to get one.”
Mike Smith made 36 saves to get the win.
“There was some good, and there was some stuff that we can clean up,” Oilers head coach Dave Tippett said. “I thought we took too many penalties. We started the third period in the penalty box carried over from the second and we took two more. What that does is it feeds their players to get them back in the game with their power play. The other thing it does, is it takes our lineup out of the game, and you have killers going over and over and you’re trying to get everybody back in the game, and then you take another penalty, so you lose your rhythm in the game.”
Jesse Puljujarvi opened the scoring late in the first period for a 1-0 lead for Edmonton.
“They have a lot of firepower over there, I like how our guys stuck with it,” Vancouver head coach Travis Green said. “We talked about it after the second; we just had to believe in our game and what we’re trying to do and believe in the process. The power-play goal was a big one, it gets us back in the game and good things happen when you put the puck to the net.”
Zach Hyman debuted for the Oilers and made the score 2-0 with his first goa, off the power play.
“Obviously, this power play has been together for a long time and they have great chemistry, so I’m just trying to fit in and try to find lanes,” Hyman said. “We practice it a lot, the backside; obviously all those guys, Leon, Connor and [Ryan Nugent-Hopkins] can all make those backdoor passes, so you have to be able to find a lane for those guys, and whether they shoot it past the goalie or find me, it was good to get the first one.”
Hughes’ goal came late in the third.
“I think [Elias Pettersson] was driving to the net and it was a good screen, and I had a guy on my hip too and wanted to get rid of it soon,” Hughes said. “I know if I got something to the net, I didn’t know if it would go in or not, but I knew it would surprise him, and I was lucky that I think he was cheating and wasn’t on his post.
“It’s always important to get off to a good start, and last year we didn’t get off to a good start, and it’s always tough when you’re struggling, so to get a point in our first game, it’s encouraging.”
Thatcher Demko made 32 saves in the loss.
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