GAME RECAP: Oilers 2, Canucks 1 (OT)

EDMONTON, AB - Who else could it be in overtime?

Connor McDavid.

The captain earned the Edmonton Oilers the 2-1 overtime victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday night in his pre-season debut, receiving a slick pass from Evan Bouchard in extra time and sliding the game-winning goal past Casey DeSmith on his backhand to give Edmonton the pre-season win at Rogers Place.

Canucks captain Quinn Hughes scored his first goal with the 'C' on his jersey to open the scoring midway through the second period on a point shot that deflected in behind Oilers netminder Stuart Skinner off the right leg of defenceman Evan Bouchard.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins equalized for the Blue & Orange three-and-a-half minutes later, when No. 93 completed a give-and-go with Leon Draisaitl before firing the tying goal five-hole under DeSmith to square the score at 1-1 through 40 minutes.

McDavid came off the bench in sudden-death overtime and accepted Bouchard's exceptional feed before cruising into the Canucks zone and sliding the game-winning goal around the left pad of DeSmith, who made 27 saves on 29 shots in defeat.

Goaltender Stuart Skinner, also making his pre-season debut, stopped 21-of-22 shots to beat out the Vancouver netminder in the opposite crease over the full 60 minutes.

Edmonton's league-leading power play from '22-23 was held goalless on four opportunities on the night with their top unit featuring Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Zach Hyman, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Evan Bouchard in the lineup, while the Caucks finished 1-for-6 with the man advantage thanks to Hughes' opening marker.

The Oilers continue their eight-game pre-season schedule on Friday at the Scotiabank Saddledome with the Battle of Alberta against the Calgary Flames.

FIRST PERIOD

Despite a few moments at both ends of the ice where the Oilers might've looked a little disjointed, there were some moments to build on heading into the first intermission of a scoreless pre-season game at Rogers Place.

Edmonton's penalty kill was put to work during a 5-on-3 man advantage for the Canucks inside the game's first five minutes, with Evan Bouchard receiving a soft cross-checking call from the officials on a dump-in at the blueline by Elias Pettersson before Mattias Janmark was given a boarding penalty on Cole McWard during a battle in the right corner.

Vancouver's newly-minted captain Quinn Hughes had the visitors' best opportunity on the two-man advantage when his shot from the top of the circles struck the iron behind goalie Stuart Skinner, who made his pre-season debut on Wednesday for the Oilers.

The shots were two apiece through the first 20 minutes before the Oilers received their first opportunity with the man advantage, and even with the full strength of their record-setting power play in '22-23 that registered a League-best 32.4 percent, the results were mixed.

The Oilers worked the puck in front on their first of two power plays in the first period and earned their best chance to open the scoring on a goalmouth scramble in front of Canucks netminder and trade acquisition Casey DeSmith, whose colours from his yellow goalie gear that he wore as a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins last season clashed with the Vancouver colours of white. blue and green.

Arguably Edmonton's best chance on the power play came with Skinner on the bench on a delayed call after Connor McDavid entered the ice as the extra attacker and found himself unmarked in the slot with the puck, but the captain couldn't connect on a pass to Nugent-Hopkins before he fired it through the danger zone and away from danger. After the first unit failed to score, the second unit PP tried to get something going and nearly did off Evander Kane's low pass to Foegele's stick in front, but DeSmith shut the door.

The Oilers continued to suppress their opponents' opportunities with only three shots against in the opening period after holding a strong Winnipeg Jets team on Monday to only 15 shots through 40 minutes.

SECOND PERIOD

It was inevitable that there'd be goals in this Pacific Division exhibition contest, and it was the principal players for both sides that did the damage.

An undisciplined slashing penalty for Leon Draisaitl gifted the Canucks their fourth power play of the night after Nugent-Hopkins was given hooking penalty just outside the six-minute mark of the middle frame, and it was Quinn Hughes who found the back of the net – albeit on a fortunate deflection

The Canucks captain's shot through traffic from the top of the Oilers zone clipped Evan Bouchard's leg on its way through, leading to the puck finding its way past Skinner for his first goal as captain of the club that gave the visitors a 1-0 advantage at 9:38 of the second period.

Three-and-a-half minutes later, the Blue & Orange finally broke through.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins provided the first pass to Leon Draisaitl on a give-and-go below the goal line before the longest-tenured Oiler popped out front between the hashmarks and finished off the tying goal by going five-hole under DeSmith with just under six minutes left in the middle frame.

Defenceman Markus Niemelainen came up clutch before the intermission to keep things tied at 1-1 when the towering Finnish blueline got low on a two-on-one to break up a dangerous Vancouver chance and take away the backdoor tap-in for Jack Studnika, who was waiting wide open at the back post.

For the third pre-season game in a row, Edmonton had limited their opponents to less than 15 shots through 40 minutes – a product of the concerted efforts from the group this Training Camp ahead of the regular season to improve defensively.

"I think it's a positive sign because that is where the majority of our focus through training camp, and we're seeing some positive results. But it's three games into the exhibition season," Woodcroft said. "Just in terms of systematic, five-on-five play, lots of positives and lots of things to build on.

"As we continue to work our way through an eight-game preseason schedule, we're going to add more layers and start concentrating on some things on the offensive side as well."

THIRD PERIOD

Oilers defenceman Ben Gleason had the best look at scoring the deciding goal in the dying moments with an open look from the left circle, but the blueliner's opportunity was stood up by the glove of Casey DeSmith to send this game to overtime.

OVERTIME

Connor McDavid wasn't on the ice to begin overtime, but the captain called game less than a minute later.

Off a quick change in the neutral zone, the captain cruised along the Canucks blueline unmarked and received a pinpoint pass from Evan Bouchard, who'd jumped on the ice for defence partner Darnell Nurse. Both members of the pairing played north of 26 minutes of ice time on Wednesday.

"Obviously the line change in overtime to get Bouchard on for Nurse, and then the pass that Bouchard made was an excellent feed to Connor," Woodcroft said. "I think they've had good moments and moments that they got to work through and get better at, but they're a quality pair. That's why they commanded the ice time they did tonight."

McDavid came in with a Canucks defenceman tracking him down, but his blazing speed – even by pre-season standards – couldn't be contained as the captain was able to slide his back-hand winner along the ice and around DeSmith's left pad to secure the 2-1 overtime victory.

PARTING WORDS

Coach Woodcroft on the Oilers being tagged for six minor penalties:

"I don't think taking a lot of penalties is something we want to do, so something has to get cleaned up. I think after two periods, we were in the box for about nine minutes, which is about a quarter of the game and up to that point, and for us, we were doing lots of real good things five-on-five defensively. We got to work on our penalty kill which is a good thing, but no, you don't want to be taking six penalties a game. It's not a recipe for sustained success."

Coach Woodcroft on the goalies going the full 60 minutes in preseason over splitting the duties:

"We spend a lot of time talking with our goaltenders. We spend a lot of time talking with the goaltending department and that was something that we just felt we wanted to do – get our goaltenders, all of them up, and running [feeling] what a real game feels like. Sometimes, if you only play 30 minutes, your team might have had the bulk of the play and you end up with eight shots on net. You're not really truly getting the work required to make sure that you're prepared to start the season. So it was just a decision to give our guys full games, and that's the way we're going to go as we go forward.

"If you think about it, like I said, I don't know what the final shots against were, but Stuart had ten shots on net in the first two periods. If you take him out after 40, he maybe doesn't maybe get the work required. But as the game wore on, the other team pushed and in certain ways, he had to dig in. That helps prepare him for the regular season."

Coach Woodcroft on his first look at Connor Brown in game action:

"Hard worker; somebody who can make plays in tight spaces. He traded the puck nicely with Kane and McDavid at different points. I think he's going to fit our team in a great way, but also, it's his first game in eleven months. I think he's just happy to get through that game and feel good about himself. He was in some scoring chances. He was good on the penalty kill. It's a good first game for him."

Skinner on the team's defence in front of him and being limited to only three shots through 20 minutes:

"They played really well in front of me and that's a product of me getting three shots, so it's a huge props to those guys. My job, no matter what, even if I get zero shots until the last two minutes of the game, is to stop the puck. It's my job to make sure that I'm still warm, still ready and still focused up, so they did their job tonight and whenever it's time for me to do my job, I'll be there."

Skinner on staying warm despite limited shots in the first two periods:

"Today there weren't a ton of distractions going through my mind, which was nice, but that changes every single day. Tomorrow there might be a million distractions going on in my mind, so it really depends on the day. But again, that's kind of what I've been working on – making sure that I'm able to stay focused and do the things that I need to do to be successful."

Skinner on his ideal amount of games this pre-season:

"I think probably three. I think three is good. I know we're doing full 60's, so it'll be nice just to get into the rhythm of games. Normally in the past, we'll do half a game or one period. It's nice to kind of get the full 60 right under the belt. It was nice to do it tonight being able to feel the puck and being able to feel the heart going a couple of times and get the cardio up, so the full 60 thing is nice."