Noah Philp’s first NHL goal, goalie envy, and can Alec Regula be a regular for the Oilers?

After dropping the season opener to the Flames on Wednesday, the Edmonton Oilers had a chance to rebound against another Pacific Division rival, the Vancouver Canucks. If they could shake off the rust and clean up some of the early mistakes, I felt pretty good about the boys’ chances of picking up their first win of the season. And the good news? It sure did look like the Oilers got the message.

NOAH PHILP GETS HIS FIRST NHL GOAL

It’s no secret around here how much I love Noah Philp. Despite being 27 years old and only now starting his NHL career, it’s hard to ignore the raw tools he brings to the table. He’s big, skates well, is a right-handed centre, and has some offensive touch in his game, as we saw last night. At 12:21 of the second period, Philp scored his first NHL goal, and it was impossible not to feel good for the kid after the work he’s put in just to get here in the first place. The goal wasn’t flashy — just a clean give-and-go with Kasperi Kapanen that ended with a wrister sneaking past Demko’s glove — but it was the kind of depth goal that will be critical to the Oilers’ success. After the road he’s taken, including a year away from hockey, finding the back of the net in front of a home crowd for his first NHL goal is a moment he’ll remember forever.

From my side of the laptop screen, everything I wrote about him in the pre-season still holds up. If you missed it, I’m very bullish on Philp’s opportunity to lock down that 4C spot and do more with the chance than many of his predecessors. Frankly, I think he’s got the tools to fight above that weight class with a little luck. At $775K, a player like that becoming an everyday contributor would be a huge organizational win — especially if Edmonton is going to legitimately keep its Stanley Cup window open. Nights like this don’t guarantee anything, but showing the staff he can score should move the needle in the right direction. I’m not saying it’s going to be a smooth ride by any means, but you can see Philp’s confidence growing, and it’s starting to feel like he won’t be going back to Bako anytime soon.

ALEC REGULA A REGULAR?

I’ll admit it: when the Oilers claimed Alec Regula off waivers from Boston back on December 11, 2024, I didn’t think much of it. Depth defenceman, probably Bakersfield-bound, end of story. If anything, I thought he’d be another one of those guys who came and went about as quickly as he arrived, never thinking he’d actually factor into the Oilers’ defence. Fast-forward to October, and Regula’s forcing everyone to pay attention. After a solid pre-season and with Jake Walman on the shelf short-term, Regula cracked the opening-night roster and has now played back-to-back games to start the year — both over Troy Stecher. Considering Stecher earned the coach’s trust through three rounds of last year’s playoff run, that says a lot about how Kris Knoblauch must feel about the kid right now.

What’s next is where things get interesting. When Walman returns, the Oilers will need to make a roster move, and Regula would have to clear waivers to head back to Bakersfield. Based on how they’ve used him early, that doesn’t feel like a risk they’ll want to take. So does that mean someone like Curtis Lazar gets squeezed instead? Do the Oilers even want to carry an extra defenceman for a while? I know he’s a forward, but what happens when Jack Roslovic is ready to go? Between Regula, Stecher, and Ty Emberson all battling for that 3RD spot, there’s a roster crunch coming as soon as Tuesday’s game against New York, and it’s shaping up to be one of the first interesting lineup decisions of the season. And regardless of how this plays out, you’ve got to like having some healthy competition on the roster.

GOALIE ENVY IS REAL

There’s a special kind of pain that comes from watching a goalie on the other side do things we’ve been dreaming about for so long. We’ve been arguing about the position ever since Cam Talbot set the franchise win record back in 2017, and these last five years have felt like an eternity without having our answer locked in between the pipes. So it wasn’t exactly surprising to see Oilers Twitter/X littered with envy every time Vancouver’s Vezina-calibre goalie stood on his head. And it’s moments like that when the goalie envy kicks in. Calvin Pickard was solid in his first start of the year — he gave the Oilers what they needed to win — but that didn’t stop me from being slightly annoyed watching Demko slam the door the way he did.

With all the noise surrounding Edmonton’s crease lately, seeing a goaltender at the other end steal momentum and frustrate an offence that was buzzing only adds to the headache. Nights like this remind you just how much a true number one can change everything. Thatcher Demko was the only reason the Canucks were even close. It was one of those nights where every cross-crease pass, every deflection, every backdoor chance just seemed to stick to him, and I found myself daydreaming about what it must be like to have a guy routinely covering up so many mistakes. I know it’s a weird thing to admit on a night when the Oilers dominated a division rival, but it won’t be the last time those thoughts pop up until the situation in Edmonton’s crease finally gets resolved once and for all.