In Edmonton, the visiting Vancouver Canucks skated out to a 3-0 lead on Wednesday night over the Oilers, then sat back and watched the home side cruise past them for a 5-3 win.
Connor McDavid hit for a hat trick and four points in the win.
“It was just not a good start for our group, but I don’t think there was anything to that, it was the first game and maybe there was a little bit of jitters,” McDavid said. “Sometimes you have to get in a real game to get your legs back under you. It maybe took us a little bit of time, but we found a way to get it done.”
Leon Draisaitl scored once for the Oilers.
Jack Campbell made 33 saves in the Oilers win.
Elias Pettersson, J.T. Miller and Andrei Kuzmenko scored for the Canucks to give them a 3-0 lead into the early second period.
“That stings a little bit, but I thought we did a lot of good things 5-on-5, and for a majority of the game, we carried the play and out-chanced them 5-on-5, but our power play let us down a little bit tonight,” the Canucks’Â Bo Horvat said. “We preached on having a good start and I think that’s kind of what we lacked a little bit last year, we were getting off to bad starts. I thought we played great, but when they get those power-play goals. It kind of stings a little bit, but for the most part, I thought we played really well 5-on-5.”
Draisaitl’s goal ended the Vancouver run and started the Oilers rally.
“I thought we played outstanding in the first half of the game,” Canucks coach Bruce Boudreau said. “You could see them building, but in the end, if our special teams were better, I think it would have been much different. We had some opportunities; two breakaways when we had a 3-1 lead and that would have made it difficult for them to come back. Then we had some open nets at that time. If you give teams too many chances to come back, they’re going to come back, especially with those two guys [McDavid and Draisaitl].”
Daniel Nurse also hit for a single marker in the Edmonton win.
“It wasn’t according to anyone’s script, for sure,” Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft said. “I don’t think we were sharp. I don’t think we were in sync early. We found a way to win the game, that’s a really good sign, but we can be better. We were forcing some things that might not have been there and we had to defend a lot in the first period. But I thought Jack Campbell was excellent, he allowed us to get back into the game.”
Thatcher Demko made 20 saves in the Vancouver loss.
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