Connor McDavid’s five-point night nearly evaporated in a defensive meltdown as Edmonton’s commanding eight-goal lead barely held up against Vancouver’s relentless late-game surge. It was a win, but not a textbook one.
The Edmonton Oilers beat the Vancouver Canucks 9-7 in a game that swung between two extremes: 30 minutes of dominant hockey, then a collapse that made a blowout feel uncomfortably close.
Evan Bouchard has seven points this season, Connor McDavid had five on the night, Leon Draisaitl had three points, and Vasily Podkolzin scored two more. Owen Michaels scored his first NHL goal, and the Oilers did all of that while letting the Canucks make it a game.
Too Close For Comfort: Game Takeaways
Edmonton came out flying. Podkolzin stayed hot, scoring his third of the season on a nice power-play pass from Kasperi Kapanen, and he added another before the period ended. Rookie Owen Michaels got his first NHL goal on a beautiful feed from Mathieu Joseph to make it 2-0, and Evan Bouchard, putting pucks on net from everywhere, added two more points to reach seven for the season. With Podkolzin (two), Michaels, Ryan Shea, and Bouchard on the board, it was a near-perfect opening period.
The second period began the same way. Draisaitl scored quickly, Vancouver answered when Devon Levi was pulled out of position, and Trent Frederic restored the five-goal lead. Brock Boeser fired a shot through a screened Levi to make it 6-2, but McDavid and Kapanen then scored shorthanded, with Kapanen repeating a cheeky preseason breakaway move.
At that point, the game should have been out of hand at 8-2. It wasn't.
Kevin Lankinen got a mercy pull, and the Canucks mounted a comeback that had to slightly worry the Oilers. Arshdeep Bains scored with 0.1 seconds left in the period to make it 8-3. The third period was where it nearly unraveled.
Marco Rossi scored two, the second off his shoulder, and Max Jones took a penalty, leading to an Elias Pettersson one-timer that cut the lead to two. Draisaitl got his second of the night on a quick release off a McDavid pass, but Jamie Oleksiak made it 9-7 with 1:29 left.
The Oilers held on, but there's a lot to unpack, and the Oilers coaching staff won't love a lot of what transpired.
Oilers React To a Win, But Not One You Write Home About
Mike Babcock called the previous game "ridiculous". This time, he liked much more of what he saw, but consistency was a major issue. "I really liked our game in the first, liked it for half the second, then I didn't like it at all. We got to learn to play a whole 60, not just 30."
He added, "I thought our big guys were terrific; it was the rest of us that weren't as good," and said of Levi that he "probably got a little nervous when it got off-kilter." On the injuries, he said "...we got a lot of guys auditioning for jobs, you gotta decide if you wanna be an important part of this."
McDavid saw some things he liked too, but realized there was a lot not to like. "No one in here is being like 'Way to go.' Offense has never been our problem in here." He noted, “Weird game, thought we clean that up a little bit around our net. Positive 40 minutes, what the game can, should look like for us.”
In the end, the Oilers pulled out the win and have three points in two games to open the season. Neither game was a textbook effort and there will be teaching moments from the results.
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