In Edmonton, the visiting Vancouver Canucks saddled the Oilers with a second straight defeat to open the season, this time a 4-3 decision.
“It was a big challenge for us to bring what we did the first game,” Vancouver’s Elias Pettersson (two assists) said. “Two really good wins, especially today, so I’m very happy with the group. Casey played great in net, and it was a good team performance.
“They came out hot, scored first shift, but that was a bit of a wake-up call for us that it was going to be a tough game.”
Sam Lafferty picked up the game-winner for the Canucks with three minutes gone i the third period.
Casey DeSmith made 37 saves in the win.
After losing the opener to the Canucks in Vancouver, Leon Draisaitl scored 42 seconds into the home opener for the Oilers and a 1-0 lead.
Andrei Kuzmenko tied it, 1-1, midway through the first off the power play.
“We had some good pushback, we killed a lot of penalties, we had some guys on fumes, we were overusing some guys because of the penalty kill, so I give a lot of credit to the guys,” Canucks coach Rick Tocchet said. “I thought Casey DeSmith was outstanding, he battled his [tail] off. [Pettersson], I think he played with every person on a line and he did a great job. The whole team did a nice job.
“Edmonton, we knew they were going to come, and they were coming. They had seven power plays, and it’s not a recipe against that team.”
With just over two minutes left in the first, Nils Hoglander put the Canucks up, 2-1.
“Obviously, penalty killing was something that we wanted to improve on this year, and I think we’ve done a good job improving on it,” the Canucks’ Ian Cole said. “That being said, we still gave up three goals in two games, so it’s clearly not good enough, but the power play we’ve been going up against is very good, very skilled.”
Connor McDavid knotted it at 2-2 early in the middle frame.
Vancouver reclaimed the lead, 3-2, on a strike by Jack Studnicka just 41 seconds after the McDavid goal.
“The big thing for our team that I wanted to see was a response. There were a lot of good things in our game,” Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft said. “We’re not on the moral victory business, I know that, but I saw a response. I saw us way more competitive.
“We’re not there just yet, but any game you have 88 shots attempts, [40] on net, and earn seven power plays, give up 16 shots on net, you expect to win those games. It didn’t happen for us tonight, but I think you win that game more often than you lose it.”
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins got the Oilers even, 3-3 midway through the second.
Stuart Skinner made 12 saves in the loss.
“There’s a little bit of frustration,” Skinner said. “Obviously, you want to start 2-0, not 0-2, but in my opinion, adversity never kills you. I think it makes you a lot stronger. And for us to face it early on might be a really good thing for the long term.
“We’re going to have games like this. I’m going to get 16 shots and let four in. It’s how you respond to that.”
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