Canucks recover for OT victory against Oilers after blowing three-goal lead

EDMONTON -- The Vancouver Canucks recovered after blowing a three-goal lead in the third period to defeat the Edmonton Oilers 6-5 in overtime at Rogers Place on Tuesday.

Paul Cotter won it for the Canucks at 1:59 of overtime. He forced a turnover by Oilers defenseman Ryan Shea along the left boards and slid the puck to Max Sasson while laying on the ice. Cotter then got back up to this skates, took a return feed from Sasson, and deked to his backhand for the winner past Tristan Jarry.

“It’s a game of momentum, especially that game,” Sasson said. “It felt like we were in control. We probably got a little too comfy. I think we were aware, though, of the star power they have over there, but a win’s a win so we’re not going to complain about that.”

Cotter scored twice, Sasson had a goal and an assist, and Filip Hronek had two assists for the Canucks, who pulled out the win in Manny Malhotra's debut as coach. Kevin Lankinen made 32 saves.

“Not the way we drew it up, for sure,” Malhotra said. “Obviously, a lot of really good things to be able to score five goals in a game. Obviously, we don’t want to give up three in the third period, that’s something that we’ll definitely need to work on, but just the resiliency to stay with it for us was a huge factor in the game. And then guys stepping up in big ways.

“‘Lanks’ made some key saves, especially down the stretch there, and our kill did the job throughout the course of the game against, obviously, an elite power play. ... But just overall, the joy of winning a game takes precedence right now."

Evan Bouchard had a hat trick and two assists, Vasily Podkolzin scored twice, and Connor McDavid had two assists for the Oilers, who were also being led by a new coach in Mike Babcock. Jarry made 17 saves.

"We started good, then we started turning over the puck, stayed out too long on the ice, made poor decisions,” Babcock said. “We gave up six tonight and I don't know how many did we give up in exhibition? Five goals. Just think about that.

“If we're going to do things right we're going to have success. If we play like this we're going to be chasing the game. To be honest with you, we're fortunate to get a point. Great comeback, but in the end we still gave up three chances in overtime in a minute and a half.”

The two teams will complete a season-opening home-and-home set at Vancouver on Thursday.

“It’s a great feeling in the room,” Canucks defenseman Jamie Oleksiak said. “I think we’re going to enjoy tonight and then get back at it tomorrow. That’s the key to good teams, you can’t get too high or too low. You want to stay consistent, you want to stay levelheaded. We’ll enjoy this one tonight and look forward to our next match.”

Jonathan Lekkerimaki put the Canucks ahead 3-2 just 1:10 into the third period. Following a giveaway by Oilers forward Isaac Howard, Lekkerimaki skated into the top of the right circle and put a wrist shot between Jarry’s pads.

Sasson pushed the lead to 4-2 at 2:55, working a give-and-go with Drew O'Connor before tucking a backhand five-hole on Jarry.

Elias Pettersson made it 5-2 at 5:15, redirecting a shot-pass from Hronek for a power-play goal.

“I always try to give (Hronek) a blade to shoot at, and he shot,” Pettersson said. “The puck goes in the net and they didn’t have time to react to it. He made that play. It was all him.”

Podkolzin closed the gap to 5-3 at 8:56, settling a centering pass from Bouchard at the edge of the crease and jamming the puck into the net.

Bouchard then completed the hat trick 24 seconds later to make it 5-4.

Podkolzin scored his second of the period with 43 seconds left to tie it 5-5. With the Oilers on the power play and Jarry off for an extra attacker, Podkolzin took a cross-ice pass from Leon Draisaitl and ripped a wrist shot over Lankinen's glove from the left circle.

“You could tell it was our first regular-season game. We’ve got to be a lot more detailed than that,” Bouchard said. “Giving up odd-man rushes, giving up five, six, isn’t going to cut it.

“We had the puck, we were playing perimeter. You could see when we kept things simple and put it in and forechecked their 'D' then we had the slot open. We just didn’t do that enough.”

Cotter gave the Canucks a 1-0 lead with a short-handed goal at 9:51 of the first period.

Bouchard tied it 1-1 at 16:26 with a wrist shot from the point that made it through a screen from Zach Hyman.

Marco Rossi responded for Vancouver to make it 2-1 at 2:07 of the second period. He got behind the defense, took a lead pass from Liam Ohgren, and beat Jarry blocker side on a breakaway.

Bouchard tied the game 2-2 at 14:34. McDavid picked up the puck from a fallen Alex Formenton and sent a backhand pass into the low slot, where Bouchard scored glove side on Lankinen.

“There were a lot of momentum swings, energy swings on the bench," Malhotra said. "Just the overall pace of the game, I was trying to make sure I was keeping an eye on who was on the ice when they were on the ice. There was a lot of moving parts, but it was definitely a fun one to coach.”

NOTES: Malhotra is the fourth person to represent the Canucks as both a player and head coach, joining Marc Crawford, Pat Quinn and Orland Kurtenbach. ... Cotter became the first player to score a short-handed goal in his Canucks debut. ... Bouchard became the third defenseman in NHL history to score a hat trick in a season opener, joining Mark Howe (Oct. 9, 1980) and Bert Cobeau (Dec. 25, 1919).