Oilers top Canucks 9-7 in Vancouver as both teams focus on playing a whole 60

The Story

Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers claimed a 9-7 victory over the Vancouver Canucks in Vancouver on Thursday, but both teams’ coaching staffs said they saw enough defensive problems and momentum swings to serve as lessons for the long NHL season.

After the game, McDavid said he did not want anyone treating the outcome like a finished product. “No one is in here (saying), you know, ‘Way to go!’” he said. “Obviously we understand the game has got to look a little bit different. But I thought the first 40 (minutes) is what it could look like a lot of the time, and what it should look like a lot of the time.”

Edmonton head coach Mike Babcock said he liked that his group gave up fewer odd-man rushes in the rematch, but also acknowledged the overall defensive picture still required work. “We didn’t give a ton of chance, but the puck ended up in our net,” he said. “So, I’m happy for the guys, happy for myself. We got three out of a possible four points (over the two games), and we got tons of examples of where we’ve got to get better.”

Babcock also described the Oilers’ performance as inconsistent over the full 60 minutes. “I really liked our game in the first (period). I liked it for half the second, and then I didn’t like it at all. So we’ve got to learn to play a whole 60, not just 30.”

The Oilers entered the day holding a 1-0-1 record, while the Canucks were 1-1-0 heading into the new season.

Edmonton built early control in the high-scoring game, jumping to a 4-0 lead in the first period before extending the advantage to 8-2 midway through the second. The Canucks responded with a scoring surge late in the middle frame, including Arshdeep Bains’ goal with 0.1 seconds left on the clock in the second period to cut the deficit to 8-3 heading into the third.

Brock Boeser said the Oilers’ quick start and puck-battles played a role in Vancouver falling behind. “They were just way hungrier than us in the first, and they came out and they were winning their puck battles, and we weren’t ready for that, so we’ve got to learn from that,” he said. “But I’m happy with the way we fought back. And there’s no quit in this room, and we just can’t let it get to that point.”

For Vancouver, head coach Manny Malhotra pointed to the need to respond better when an opponent gets on offence. “We have to have that mindset and that ability to shift the momentum of the game by just doing something better, being more physical, getting more aggressive, moving our feet, applying pressure in their end of the rink,” he said. “There’s a number of things that would come out of that. But that’s part of the growing process for us.”

Canucks centre Paul Cotter said turning games like this into a more difficult opponent requires more physicality and pressure, especially after an early goal. “When they pot a couple early, it’s like, ‘Alright, well, you know they have a lot of guys who are there with elite skill,’” he said. “But we should be putting them through the glass into next week every single chance we get.”

Cotter added that the team wants its home arena to feel like a place opponents dislike coming to. “This should be a building where guys hate to come play. Whether they win or lose, they should be like, ‘Ah man, like I hate playing in that arena.’ And we didn’t do that tonight.”