Connor McDavid recorded a goal and four assists as the Edmonton Oilers rallied for a 9-7 win over the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena.
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Connor McDavid had a goal and four assists as the Edmonton Oilers held on to beat the Vancouver Canucks 9-7 at Rogers Arena on Thursday.
The Oilers bounced back from a 6-5 overtime loss to Vancouver on Tuesday to split the season-opening home-and-home series.
Leon Draisaitl led Edmonton with two goals and an assist, while Evan Bouchard had a goal and two assists. Kasperi Kapanen and Vasily Podkolzin each added a goal and an assist for the Oilers.
Edmonton took the lead in the first period when Podkolzin scored on the power play at 9:26, converting a cross-ice pass from Kapanen. Owen Michaels then scored at 14:26 to make it 2-0.
Bouchard extended Edmonton’s lead just 16 seconds later, and Ryan Shea made it 4-0 at 19:32. Draisaitl added Edmonton’s fifth goal 27 seconds into the second period after banking a shot from below the goal line in off the back of Vancouver goaltender Luca Lankinen’s shoulder.
Vancouver got within four when Marco Rossi and Elias Pettersson each had goals later, but Edmonton’s scoring run continued. Trent Frederic converted a rebound to restore the five-goal advantage at 6-1, and Brock Boeser, McDavid and Kapanen all scored to push the Oilers’ lead to 8-2.
Arshdeep Bains scored with 19:59 remaining in the second period to make it 8-3, then Rossi cut it to 8-4 and scored again to bring Vancouver to 8-5 early in the third period. Pettersson’s power-play goal at 7:37 made it 8-6, before Draisaitl replied on the power play at 9:26 to put Edmonton ahead 9-6.
Oleksiak scored at 18:31 to make it 9-7 and the Oilers held on for the final margin.
McDavid finished the night with five points and later said, "Weird to be excited about the ninth one, but given the situation, it was a big goal," adding that while he would have liked the game "a lot cleaner than that" the team "found a way to get a big win and get our season up and running."
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