GAME RECAP: Jets 6, Oilers 0

EDMONTON, AB – Better nights ahead.

The Edmonton Oilers were shut out in their 2024-25 NHL season opener at Rogers Place, falling 6-0 to the Winnipeg Jets after goaltender Connor Hellebuyck stopped all 30 shots he faced on Wednesday night.

"We know that we can get to a much higher standard and a much higher level than we did tonight," defenceman Mattias Ekholm said.

The Oilers outshot the Jets 30-20 in their defeat, putting in a strong opening 18 minutes of the first period before the visitors began to take control before the intermission to take a 2-0 lead by scoring twice through captain Adam Lowry and Mason Appleton.

"It's tough to rebound against a team like this," Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said. "Last year, they were the best defensive team in the League, so when you're giving them goals, it's tough to get them back."

Winnipeg tacked on three more goals in the second period, including twice on their first two attempts of the frame off tallies from forward Rasmus Kupari and defenceman Dylan Samberg over a 20-second span that ended goaltender Stuart Skinner's evening with four goals allowed on 13 shots.

The Jets' sizeable advantage reached five during the middle frame when six-time 30-goal scorer Kyle Connor scored against Calvin Pickard from the right circle on the power play before Mark Scheifele added another with the man advantage in the third period to complete his side's 6-0 victory.

"I thought they played an excellent game tonight. Kudos to them," Ekholm said. "But I think we have to make it way harder. I thought we played okay at times and we had some chances, but not nearly enough urgency in the defensive end. That's where it all starts with this team and I know we can be better."

The Oilers will aim for a better performance in front of their home fans on Hockey Night in Canada this Saturday when Connor Bedard & the Chicago Blackhawks visit Rogers Place.

FIRST PERIOD

The Oilers had their chances to strike first in the opening 20 minutes of their 2024-25 regular season, but the Jets made the most of Edmonton's miscues to take a two-goal lead into the intermission.

Skinner stopped Scheifele on a breakaway in the game's opening minutes, making up for Evan Bouchard's fanned-on shot from the blueline in the offensive zone that allowed the centre to cruise in uncontested before his simple wrist shot was stopped by the left pad of the netminder and covered up for the first big "Stuuuuuuu!" of the season.

Forward Vasily Podkolzin laid a huge hit near the benches before the Oilers began to test Winnipeg goalie Connor Hellebuyck, with Bouchard trying to make up for his unintentional gaffe a few minutes earlier, putting a dangerous pass into the slot for winger Connor Brown to force the former Vezina Trophy-winner into a composed opening save.

The 30-year-old is back on a one-year contract with the Oilers this season along with linemates Adam Henrique and Mattias Janmark, and Brown would deflect another dangerous chance on Hellebuyck later in the period that was created off a shot from Henrique near the top corner of Winnipeg's zone.

"I thought our third line was really good," Knoblauch said. "I don't recall them ever being in any trouble. Connor Brown had two Grade-A deflections in the slot and they set up the shorthanded one, but I thought the third line was really good."

Leon Draisaitl, who was having a powerful start to his first regular-season game since signing an eight-year, $14-million AAV contract in the offseason, wowed the Rogers Place crowd when he took a loose puck off a D-zone faceoff all the way up ice and around two defencemen for a cut-back attempt that Hellebuyck parried away with his chest protector.

Soon after, it was McDavid's opportunity to turn heads inside Rogers Place, receiving a breakout pass through the neutral zone with speed and flat-footing defenceman Colin Miller before putting it to the back post for Hyman, but the captain's winger couldn't get his stick in the right spot to break the deadlock.

Edmonton's missed opportunities and a lost defensive assignment on Winnipeg captain Adam Lowry's go-ahead goal at 5:04 of the first period ultimately cost them the lead.

Jets centre Nino Niederreiter was able to sift a pass in front from behind the net to Lowry, who had his first attempt stopped by a beautiful save from Skinner with the right pad, but the netminder was undone by a tough redirection off his unfortunately angled pad as he watched Lowry's follow-up attempt go in from a tight angle.

Before the break, the Jets would double their lead off a quick breakout that started behind their own goal off the stick of Appleton, who found Niederreiter at the far blueline before the centre spun around to deliver a back-hand pass to Appleton for a far-side shot that beat Skinner under the glove for the 2-0 lead with 1:25 left in the opening period.

SECOND PERIOD

Edmonton outshot Winnipeg by a 16-7 margin over the period, but that didn't reverse their fortunes on Wednesday after the Jets hit higher altitude with three more tallies in the middle frame – including two quick strikes that led to the end of Skinner's night.

Viktor Arvidsson opened the period with a marauding shift in the first minute, where the off-season arrival crashed the net on two separate occasions to create two golden opportunities off rebounds for his linemates Leon Draisaitl and Jeff Skinner that the pair couldn't convert to cut into Winnipeg's two-goal lead early in the frame.

"It takes time. I thought we had a couple of looks," Draisaitl said of his line's chemistry. "You could tell there were a couple of potential looks where, if we connect on those, they might be in the back of the net. We obviously have to continue to create chemistry and work at it, but sometimes, that just takes a little bit of time."

Near the five-minute mark, the Jets had the Oilers hemmed in and took advantage of some tired legs in the offensive zone to extend their advantage to three. Kupari rimmed a puck around the boards to Morrissey, who then sent it back across to the forward in the right circle for a one-timer that went in off the skate blade of Skinner.

It took the Jets only 20 seconds after play resumed to add their second goal on as many shots in the period, ultimately leading to the Skinner's night coming to an end after defenceman Dylan Samberg went top shelf off the rush to make it 4-0 with 15:23 to go in the period.

"It doesn't feel great, but I can't do much about what happened tonight, so I'm gonna go back to a couple of sheets and drop some new stuff for me to work on and just get better from this," Skinner said. "I've been pulled before. I've let in five goals in the game before, and obviously, you just don't want to do it in the first game. You don't want to do it ever, but I'll just get better from this and move on."

Skinner was replaced by Calvin Pickard following a TV timeout near the midway mark of the stanza, finishing with four goals allowed on 13 shots.

"I don't think any of the goals were bad goals," Knoblauch added. "I don't think there were any of those, but I also don't think there were many saves or any big ones. We left him out to dry on the defensive lapses to put him in that position. It's not fair for any goaltender, but there's a point in the game where we have to make that change and we did that."

Pickard was solved soon after on Winnipeg's first power play, taking advantage of defenceman Ty Emberson's hooking penalty to give forward Kyle Connor a clean look from the right circle that the six-time 30-goal scorer in the NHL placed far side for the 5-0 lead.

Other than a dangerous one-timer from Draisaitl in the last four minutes and their only power play of the opening 40 minutes, the Oilers weren't able to make any more in-roads in the final quarter of the frame before hitting the intermission down by a five-spot.

THIRD PERIOD

Chasing a 5-0 game, the Oilers couldn't fight off the disconnect early in the regular season after every chance to finish seemed to fall apart at the final hurdle.

Despite being early in the season and having some new faces to integrate into the lineup, defenceman Mattias Ekholm says that's unacceptable.

"It's the same for everybody. I don't think any team is intact from last year completely and that's just more an excuse than anything," he said."Obviously, you can find a lot of those if you want, but I know this team doesn't do that. A lot of times, we try to go to ourselves and know that we can be a better hockey team than we were tonight. I'm sure you've heard some clichés about being one game and all that, but that's the reality of it.

Mattias Janmark was foiled by the shaft of Hellebuyck's stick around the eight-minute mark while shorthanded when Connor Brown found his Swedish linemate streaking off the rush for Edmonton's best chance of the third period as the Blue & Orange tried to make something of a forgettable night on home ice.

The Oilers killed off a Derek Ryan slashing penalty but couldn't keep the Jets from increasing their advantage to six on their next power play, which Mark Scheifele put home by deflecting Nikolaj Ehlers' shot from the top of the left circle after Winnipeg crossed into Edmonton's zone 5:45 into the frame.

After their shutout defeat, the focus now turns to 'Connor vs. Connor' on Saturday when the Blackhawks & Bedard come into Rogers Place to face the Oilers on Hockey Night in Canada.

"It's one out of 82 games, so we're not going to get too down on ourselves. But obviously, we got some homework to do."