GAME RECAP: Oilers 3, Canucks 2 (SO)

EDMONTON, AB - After the Vancouver Canucks battled back from a two-goal deficit with eight minutes remaining, forward Kyle Turris scored the game-winner in Round 5 of the shootout in a 3-2 victory for the Oilers on Opening Night at Rogers Place.
Zach Hyman scored his first goal in Blue & Orange on the powerplay in the second period, while Mike Smith was strong in the crease during his season debut by making 36 saves on 38 shots. Connor McDavid had two assists, and Jesse Puljujarvi got on the board in the opening frame with the first Oilers goal of the '21-22 campaign.

YOUR GAME-DAY ESSENTIALS

GAME DAY
Photo Gallery
Full Highlights
Look Back at the In-Game Blog
POST-GAME VIDEO
OILERS TODAY | Post-Game vs. VAN
POST-RAW | Coach Tippett
POST-RAW | Nurse & Turris
POST-RAW | McDavid & Hyman
POST-GAME UPDATES
Inside The Oilers Blog

FIRST BLOOD

Puljujarvi hurled his fists into the air, letting out a bellowing roar that echoed through the bowl of Rogers Place with the cheers from thousands of fans who celebrated seeing in person their first regular-season Oilers goal in 581 days.
McDavid sent a lateral pass across the circles to Darnell Nurse, who walked in and saw his shot stopped initially by Canucks netminder Thatcher Demko. Puljujarvi, lurking in front of the net, collected the uncontested rebound and buried Edmonton's first goal of the '21-22 campaign with 3:05 to go in an energy-filled first period.
After falling behind on the shot clock early, the Oilers rallied to outshoot the Canucks 14-10 in the opening frame.

PLAY OF THE GAME

There's nothing like playing a little tic-tac-toe for your first Oilers goal, while getting last season's league-best powerplay up and running.
Inside three minutes remaining in the middle frame, after McDavid fed Draisaitl with a cross-ice feed on the 5-on-4 man advantage, the German elected not to rip his patented one-timer and instead put a pass on the tape to Hyman to casually tap in his first tally in an Orange & Blue uniform.

SAVE OF THE GAME

Smith made the biggest stop of his 36-save performance with a sharp double save near the halfway point of the second period. The Oilers netminder came out of his crease and made himself big to deny Canucks forward Kyle Burroughs before making another snap save from a tighter angle on Nils Hoglander just seconds later.

TURNING POINT

Quinn Hughes snuck a short-side shot under the right arm of Smith with under three minutes remaining in the contest to level the score at 2-2 and send the game to overtime. Just under five minutes earlier, Oliver Ekman-Larsson started the late surge for Vancouver when he let fly a wrist shot from the point on the powerplay that evaded traffic in front of Smith and gave the visitors life.
Five minutes of extra time would solve nothing, with Turris needing to settle the game in Round 5 of the shootout by sliding a shot low under Demko for the winning goal.

TOP PERFORMER

Smith was steady all night making 36 saves and stopping four of five shots in the shootout. On the final action of the game, Smith watched Tanner Pearson send his shot high and over the crossbar to secure Edmonton the extra point.

PARTING WORDS

Kyle Turris on the confidence from getting time in overtime and scoring the shootout winner:
"It's really big," he said. "Like you said, I'll be the first to admit I had a bad year last year, but coming back I want to prove myself. That's what I'm working towards doing. To get the shift in overtime and to be out in the shootout, it definitely helps to build the confidence and it's something I have to take advantage of."
(The shootout) is one thing I've always taken very seriously and done pre-scouting and really practiced over the course of my career. I find it a really fun part of the game, and I've taken a lot of shootout shots over my career."

Darnell Nurse on lessons learned from losing a two-goal lead but still being able to secure the victory:
"It's the first win of the season, and that's big," he said. "You've got to get that first win down and build off it. You don't want to be losing leads in the third period, and that's something we're going to have to clean up. But at the same time, we were resilient and didn't give up the third one, didn't give one up in OT, and found a way to win in the shootout. You're going to have to win games like that."
Nurse on having Hyman on his team after playing against him frequently as a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs:
"The biggest compliment after playing nine times last year is 'the most annoying player to play against'" he said. "He's always in your back pocket no matter if you hit him. You play him hard in the corners and he's always coming back. On top of that, you see he's able to go on the powerplay and create some great plays and finish with the goal he scored. He really just brings it everywhere, and it all starts with the work ethic he brings to our team. Guys just feed off that, so we're very lucky to have him here in Edmonton."

McDavid on starting the season with a win and the overall effort tonight from him and his teammates:
"I thought the game was better. I thought our intensity was better," he said. "I liked our game overall, but I just didn't like the penalties. Our penalty kill was unbelievable. Smitty, obviously as well, holding us in there. They get a lucky bounce and it kind of kickstarts their game, so ultimately I thought our game was pretty good."
McDavid on playing in front of fans again for a regular-season game:
"It meant a lot," he said. "To feel the energy in the building again, to have that emotion back, it's exciting. It makes it so much better. We really and truly missed the fans, and they were great tonight."
Hyman on scoring his first Oilers goal after spending six seasons in Toronto:
"It's awesome, especially because it was a big goal during the game. It put us up by two" he said. "The guys have just been so welcoming to me since I got here, so just to score a big goal in the first game and get the first one out of the way was awesome. A lot of excitement, obviously, and it feels like I've been here a while already. It's only been one real game at least, so it was great."