The Vancouver Canucks are coming off an 8-1 dismantling of the Edmonton Oilers in their home opener where Brock Boeser put on a show with four goals. It was all sunshine and rainbows for the Canucks as in addition to Boeser, Elias Pettersson and JT Miller combined for eight points, and newly-minted captain Quinn Hughes notched three assists.
As the schedule would have it, the Canucks will face those same Oilers tonight in a rematch – this time in Edmonton as they kick off a five-game road trip. It will definitely be a different game as no one should expect the Oilers to take the 8-1 embarrassment lying down. Here is our gameday preview.
Setting the Stage: Lineups, Injury News, Stats & More
If morning skate lines are any indication, the Canucks will be dressing the same lineup as their home opener with Jack Studnicka as the only addition. The club had to run with 11 forwards and six defencemen on Wednesday as injuries and cap issues forced them to play with a depleted roster. Even though Thatcher Demko was seen on the ice for morning skate, Rick Tocchet confirmed in his media availability that Casey DeSmith will get the start to give him some more time to recover from the flu.
The Oilers meanwhile will have top defenceman Mattias Ekholm back on defence along with new signing Adam Erne potentially suiting up on the fourth line. As of this writing, there has been no indication of what the lines or defence pairings will look like as they could go with the 11 forwards and seven defencemen setup, which would likely make Erne a healthy scratch with Vincent Desharnais being the extra defenceman.
Injuries
- Canucks: Ilya Mikheyev (knee, day-to-day); Guillaume Brisebois (upper body, day-to-day); Teddy Blueger (bruise, week-to-week), Carson Soucy (undisclosed, day-to-day)
- Oilers: Brady Stonehouse (undisclosed)
Interesting Facts & Stats
- Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl have a combined 42 goals and 111 points against the Canucks in their career.
- With his four goals on Wednesday, Boeser now has 14 goals and 24 points in 28 career games against the Oilers. He currently leads the NHL in goals, one ahead of Auston Matthews. He will also hit the 400-game milestone which has seen him score 315 points in eight seasons with the Canucks.
- Quinn Hughes is turning 24 today and already has 244 points in the NHL. He notched his first three assists of the season on Wednesday.
- Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet is only one win away from 200 in his coaching career.
3 Burning Questions/Storylines
Can the Canucks Stay Strong on Special Teams?
The only blemish on the Canucks’ superb first meeting against the Oilers was the lone power play goal they gave up to Leon Draisaitl. The penalty kill has been a sore spot for the last few seasons and for the most part, they looked pretty good when the lethal five-man unit of McDavid, Draisaitl, Ryan Nugent Hopkins, Zach Hyman and Evan Bouchard were on the ice. They did allow seven shots on the four power plays, but only had one instance when they looked out of control – the goal by Draisaitl. They need to keep that going in this game if they want to have any chance of beating the Oilers again.
Related: Canucks’ Trade Options for Garland in 2023-24
What didn’t have any blemishes was the Canucks’ power play – especially the top unit of Andrei Kuzmenko, Pettersson, Miller, Boeser and Hughes. They connected three times on six chances along with 13 shots on goal and never once looked disorganized and unsure of their system. If this new philosophy of constant movement and plenty of shots remains consistent throughout the season, they could finish in the top five in power play percentage. It’s early, but the Canucks appear to be on the path to becoming a strong power-play and penalty-killing team for the first time in a very long time.
Are the Canucks Finally Buying Into a Defensive System?
The Canucks were a structured machine in all zones in their season opener. They competed hard for pucks, forechecked like madmen, and never let up even though they had a multi-goal lead. That definitely couldn’t be said of the team last season as they started by giving up a 3-0 lead to these same Oilers and fell 5-3 with McDavid notching a hat trick. As Canucks Nation knows, that was the beginning of a frustrating stretch where they lost four straight games after having a multi-goal lead – setting an NHL record in the process.
This season is already different as the Canucks controlled their first game from start to finish, never giving the Oilers hope of a comeback. Even when they scored their power play goal to make it 4-1, the workboots didn’t come off as the Canucks scored shortly after on their own power play to make it 5-1. Last season, that rarely happened. Instead, the snowball would keep rolling down the hill gaining momentum until the game was either tied or in favour of the opposition. It remains to be seen if this system can be maintained throughout the season, but it was a nice breath of fresh air to see it consistently executed for an entire game.
Weathering the Storm in the First 10 Minutes
It probably goes without saying that the Oilers will come out hard in the first 10 minutes of this game. They want to prove to their fans and the doubters that they are better than the 8-1 debacle they served up in their opener. The Canucks will need to be prepared for this and weather that storm. If they can remain tied or better yet, gain the lead by the midway point of the period, they will be set up for another win. However, with the added boost and structure the Oilers should gain defensively with Ekholm’s return to the lineup and of course the firepower of their top-six, the Canucks will have their work cut out for them.
They Said It
“I used to laugh [thinking] ‘Oh my god, the other team’s going to come out flying’…of course they’re going to come out flying, so what does that mean, do we back up? No. We’ve got to come flying out too.”
– Rick Tocchet on responding after a blowout win
“Sometimes you need those moments…Obviously, we didn’t want that to happen, no doubt about it. But it did. We’ll learn from it and we’ll move on. Sometimes it’s good to get smacked a little bit, and get back to work and do the little things.”
– Leon Draisaitl
Up Next For the Canucks
After this game, the Canucks will travel to Philadelphia to take on the Flyers on Tuesday, Oct. 17. It can be seen on Sportsnet at 3 p.m. PT and will be the first with John Shorthouse and new colour guy Dave Tomlinson in the booth.
