Oilers lose in the streets, but beat Canucks on the sheet

If hockey games were won and lost by the number of big hits thrown, then the Vancouver Canucks may have beaten the Edmonton Oilers in Saturday night’s game.

After all, Evander Kane threw two huge hits on Oilers blueliner Alec Regula — one cheap shot from behind and into the boards that wasn’t called, and another clean as could be that forced him from the game — all the while Tyler Myers caught Trent Fredric with a big pop at Vancouver’s blueline.

But hockey has never been scored that way, and when both teams looked up at the scoreboard, it read 3-1 in favour of the Edmonton Oilers.

“I thought we played a pretty good 60 minutes,” said Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch. “A lot of credit for the guys. A lot of times when you’re playing well and you’re getting those scoring chances, it’s so easy to cheat the game.”

Those scoring chances were a huge story in the game, as beyond Noah Philp scoring his first NHL goal, Andrew Mangiapane getting his second in as many games, and Leon Draisaitl icing it with an empty netter, they could’ve scored a plethora more.

In fact, the Oilers created so much offence from their 42 scoring chances that they generated 5.57 expected goals, according to Natural Stat Trick. 2.33 of those expected goals came on the power play in thanks to the five man advantages they had, but they just couldn’t find a way to capitalize.

“I feel like we could have scored two on every power play we’ve had,” said Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl, who was robbed by Thatcher Demko with a glorious look on a third period power play. “You got to tip your cap sometimes, and we’ll continue to chip away at it.”

While Draisaitl had his looks, so too did David Tomášek. Snake bitten as could be, he hammered away at chance after chance on the power play, generating 1.33 of those expected goals himself.

What words of advice does Knoblauch have for him?

“Keep trying,” he said. “After the second, I was thinking this might be the best game I’ve seen McDavid and Draisaitl play without getting on the score sheet.”

They eventually found their way on by the end of the night with that empty net goal.

This game wasn’t one Oilers fans are accustomed to seeing from this team this early in the year. It had the feel of a do-or-die Stanley Cup Final game, not the second game of a regular season knowing you still have 80 left to go until they matter.

Edmonton’s first goal heading into this season was a strong start to the season — something that has plagued them in consecutive years. In 2023-24, they got off to a 9-12-1 start through November, prompting the coaching chance that brought Knoblauch to town. They got off to a .500 start through October last year improving in November boosting their record to 13-9 and a .583 points percentage, but they were still behind the eight ball.

While Saturday’s game might’ve been one that took the Oilers weeks, or even months to get to in years past, that wasn’t the case against Vancouver.

“I think it’s a mindset,” said Oilers goaltender Calvin Pickard, who turned aside 14 of the 15 shots he faced. “You know, it’s one thing to say we want to have a good start, but I think we had a pretty good training camp and a good preseason and a lot of guys feel good going into the season.

“That was a really good test for us. Playing Vancouver at home, it’s always a big game and we were ready for the test.”

The tests won’t stop anytime soon for this team, as they’ll now head out on a five-game road trip, their first of the year, that will see them pay visit to the New York Rangers Tuesday, before stops to see the New York Islanders, New Jersey Devils and Detroit Red Wings.