VANCOUVER — The Edmonton Oilers outlasted the Vancouver Canucks 9-7 on Thursday at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, surviving a wild collapse to split their season-opening home-and-home after dropping a 6-5 overtime decision on Opening Night in Edmonton. Even after Leon Draisaitl made it 9-6 with just over 10 minutes to play, the result remained in doubt. “It was weird to be excited about the ninth (goal),” mused Connor McDavid. “But given the situation …”
Edmonton built two four-goal periods to lead 8-2 halfway through the game and seemingly put it to bed by the 30-minute mark, before Vancouver answered with five more goals. McDavid finished with a goal and four assists to pace the attack. “For 30, 40 minutes, it was what the game should look like for us. What it could look like for us,” McDavid said. “Offence has never been the real problem around here. We understand that. You’d like it to be a lot cleaner than that coming down the stretch, but ultimately, a win’s a win in this league.” He added, “No one's in here saying ‘Way to go!’ We understand the game's got to look a little bit different. But I thought the first 40 is what it could look like a lot of the time. What it should look like a lot of the time."
The victory did little to mask serious defensive and goaltending issues. Edmonton has allowed 12 regulation goals in two games and awoke Friday with a team save percentage of .727, dead last in the NHL. Tristan Jarry sits at .739 after a horrid first start, while Devon Levi disintegrated in his maiden start as an Oiler with a .682 save percentage and 7.02 goals-against average. On the blue line, Jake Walman was minus-3 and Shakir Mukhamadullin minus-4 Thursday, with Mukhamadullin shaky with the puck and soft in front of his net. Ty Emberson and Spencer Stastney are waiting for their first action of the 2026-27 campaign and are candidates to draw in Saturday against Seattle. “If you're Levi here tonight, you haven't really played (with Edmonton), you probably got a little nervous when it got off kilter. The puck bounced off you a little bit,” said head coach Mike Babcock. “If it wasn't this early, I might be (worried). But we'll just get back to work and make sure we look after them good. Control what we can control."
Offence has not been the problem. Edmonton has scored 14 goals in two games, taking three points from the Vancouver series despite missing projected second-line centre Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, third-line centre Jason Dickinson, top right winger Zach Hyman — the latest Oiler to hit the injury list — and Top 6 left winger Matt Savoie. With Hyman out, McDavid centered Draisaitl and Vasily Podkolzin on a first line that piled up four goals and 10 points Thursday, with Podkolzin already at three goals on the season. The other three lines added three goals, including the first pro career goal for Owen Michaels, while veteran Trent Frederic scored once and continued to look improved. “The big guys played well. Michaels’ line played really good,” Babcock said. “Michaels, thank goodness for him. Good for our team.” Babcock added, “The first game, we played OK for a little bit. But tonight we played well for a big chunk of time. So we're going to build off that."
Evan Bouchard provided the historic note, becoming the first NHL defenceman since 1980 to notch a hat trick on Opening Night and then breaking the record for points in the first two games of the season by a defenceman with eight after posting one goal and two assists Thursday. Vancouver, reminiscent of the team that finished dead last in the NHL standings last season, had just five shots on net halfway through the game and late in the second period had allowed eight goals while directing only seven pucks at Levi’s net before a lazy Edmonton third allowed three more Canucks goals. The Oilers now return home for repairs before hosting Seattle on Saturday.