GAME RECAP: Canucks 4, Oilers 3

EDMONTON, AB – The Edmonton Oilers received three points from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and doubled up their opponents 40-16 in shots, but the Blue & Orange couldn't find the third-period goal they needed in a 4-3 defeat to the Vancouver Canucks in their 2023 Home Opener at Rogers Place on Saturday night.

"There were four moments in the game that we would've liked to have back, but at the same time, you've got to look at 60 minutes and the effort and it's a long season," Mattias Ekhom said. "I think if we keep the shot clock that lopsided in most of our games this year, I think we're going to end up on the winning side. We didn't tonight, so we'll learn from it and move on."

Leon Draisaitl opened the scoring just 42 seconds into regulation with his second goal of the season as part of a high-flying first five minutes for the Oilers before the Canucks came up with two deflected goals before the first intermission to take a 2-1 lead – once on the power play through Andrei Kuzmenko and again at even strength via Nils Hoglander.

With the score all square at 3-3 through 40 minutes thanks to power-play goals from Connor McDavid and Nugent-Hopkins, it was Sam Lafferty notching the game-winner with a far-side shot on Stuart Skinner after cutting back inside on Mattias Ekholm off the rush inside the first three minutes of the third period.

"I think just we have some lapses in our game that are self-inflicting, and I think it's important that you need to clean those up early," Zach Hyman said. "When that happens the shots may be low, but you're still giving up opportunities that are hard to save."

Casey DeSmith stood tall between the pipes for Vancouver in a First-Star performance with 37 saves, and Stuart Skinner stopped 12-of-16 shots for Edmonton in the defeat after being the victim of some well-taken goals from the visitors.

Ekholm returned to the lineup and played 15:47 after missing the entire preseason with a hip flexor injury, while Adam Erne made his Oilers regular-season debut in the defeat after signing a one-year, two-way contract with the club on Friday.

The Oilers now hit the road for a two-game road trip that begins Tuesday night against the Nashville Predators with a 0-2-0 record.

"I thought today was much better than last game, but the same result," Hyman said. "Obviously we'll regroup and have a good road trip."

FIRST PERIOD

The Oilers couldn't have started off their Home Opener much better.

With an urgency on elevating their work rate right from opening puck drop, the Blue & Orange came out blazing with a torrent start to the opening minute that saw the hosts find the back of the net and record five shots in the opening 42 seconds.

Draisaitl found Nugent-Hopkins unmarked in front of Canucks netminder DeSmith inside the game's first few moments with one of his patented backhand passes, but the longest-tenured Oiler couldn't convert the early opportunity as an energetic first shift from Edmonton's second line continued.

The forward unit continued to pile on the pressure, leading to a scramble around the Canucks' crease where the puck changed direction before falling beneath DeSmith's left pad as he scrambled back to his post. Draisaitl found himself in the right position to push the puck over the goal line and register his second goal of the season to ignite Oil Country under the roof of Rogers Place for the first time this campaign.

"I think we found it right in the beginning, to be honest," Hyman said. "I thought we had the first six minutes of full control, scored a goal, so I think we found it pretty early and then it got away from us there in the first and then we regrouped and found it again the second. Then, we weren't able to get the decider in the third."

Kane delivered a monster hit after the restart on Filip Hronek to set the physical tone, but the Oilers weren't able to carry that momentum past the five-minute mark – including on their opening power play after Hronek found himself in the box for holding Dylan Holloway.

"I thought for the most part we played a pretty good game," Ekholm said. "I think we came out really hot, I think we had a great start, but we fell back a little bit in the last 10-to-12 minutes of that first period."

The Canucks got on the board thanks to their own sizzling man advantage that began the season 4-for-7 in their opening two games against the Oilers after Kuzmenko deflected Quinn Hughes' point shot past Skinner at 11:35 of the opening period.

There's been an emphasis from Vancouver on putting point shots and redirections on goal, and it would provide the visitors another goal before the break.

Brock Boeser had the game of his life the last time these two teams met during Wednesday's season opener in Vancouver with four goals, and he was back at it creating the Canucks' go-ahead goal. The winger fired a turn-around shot that found another Canucks stick in front – this time, it was Hoglander providing the tip-in that snuck over the left pad of Skinner just before the two-minute mark to send the visitors back to the dressing room up by a goal.

"Those two tips, obviously we can do a better job on that front and maybe a little bit in that area just in front of our goaltender," Ekholm added. "We can bear down a little bit more. But again, overall, I think we did a decent job. To be honest, I didn't think we were under duress too much. I didn't think they had too long of a shift in our end or anything like that. It's just a matter of tightening up those little details to make sure they don't get timely goals."

SECOND PERIOD

There was major commotion in front of the Canucks' crease all second period, and the always-dangerous Oilers power play was liable for a lot of the ruckus.

Edmonton outshot Vancouver 18-6 in the middle frame, with every scoring opportunity seemingly leading to a scramble that the Canucks struggled to clear. When the Oilers received their first of four power plays in the period, barely a minute past the resumption of play, McDavid capitalized on one of those chaotic scrambles in front of DeSmith to level the score.

With plenty of bodies bogging down the front of Vancouver's goal as they tried to kill off Dakota Joshua's interference penalty on McDavid, it was the Oilers captain who cleaned up a loose puck amid the chaos and slotted the puck into the back of an open Canucks net.

The game would remain tied for only 51 until Jack Studnika got the goal right back for the Canucks on an uncontested 2-on-0 that resulted from the puck being rimmed around the boards in Vancouver's zone before it popped out in the neutral zone for Elias Pettersson to pick up.

"Maybe it was a bit of over-willing to score a goal there," Ekholm said. "It's one of those classic things when you're coming down the wing, try to just hit the net I guess. Don't try to hit back. But we've got to also have some guy staying back, and you can't let a 2-on-0 happen. Obviously, that's one that we could have prevented, but at the same time, it's early in the season and we're still trying to find our groove here."

The man advantage went back to work for the Oilers before the midway mark of the middle frame, with Nugent-Hopkins not going low blocker – but low glove instead – with a snap shot from inside the left circle that squared the scoreline at three heading into the second intermission.

THIRD PERIOD

The Oilers limited the Canucks to only 13 shots through 40 minutes, but all it took was one early opportunity to spell Edmonton's downfall.

Ekholm was making his regular-season debut following a hip flexor injury that prevented him from playing in any pre-season action, but he couldn't prevent  Lafferty from cutting to the inside off the rush in the first three minutes of the final frame and shooting far side for the game-winning goal.

"Definitely want to look back on the fourth one," Skinner said. "I'm not too sure exactly what happened, but something that I can look at and change besides that. The other three, I mean, they're pretty good goals."

Edmonton vacated its net with more than two minutes remaining, but despite a handful of good looks in the dying moments, the Oilers couldn't find the goal they needed to give them a chance in overtime.

PARTING WORDS

Woodcroft on his team's response on Saturday from their opening-night defeat:

"I think the big thing that I personally wanted to see out of our team was a response. I thought there were a lot of good things in our game. We're not in the moral victory business, I know that, but I saw a response. I saw us be way more competitive. We're not there just yet, but I think in any game you have 88 shot attempts – 41 on net – earn seven power plays and give up 16 shots on net. I think you expect to win those games.

"It didn't happen that way for us tonight, but I think you win that game more often than you lose it."

Skinner on the feeling inside the Oilers locker room after an 0-2-0 start to their season:

"I think there's a little bit of frustration. Obviously, you want to start 2-0, not 0-2, but in my opinion I believe adversity never kills you. I think it makes you a lot stronger, and for us to face it early on might be a really good thing for the long term. So it just really depends on how we bounce back from this and it determines how we bounce back from any adversity that we're going to encounter moving on, because we will face adversity.

"We're going to have games like this. I'm going to get 16 shots and [let in] four, and it's how you kind of respond to that. So we're going to face adversity again, but it's just how this group is going to respond. I know that these guys. I know everybody in here, and we have a lot of grit and we know how to bounce back and we're a hell of a team. I have nothing but trust for these guys."

Ekholm on playing his first regular-season game of the year after missing the entire preseason with a hip flexor injury:

"Yeah, it's the pace for sure. You can skate on your own or skate with the team, but it's a whole different level when you come out in game action. I'm sure it'll take a couple of games here before I get my legs under me, but it's nice to have the first one out of the way."