GAME RECAP: Oilers 5, Canucks 3

EDMONTON, AB - Queue the comeback on Opening Night.
The Edmonton Oilers trailed by three in the second period, but a hat trick from Connor McDavid and a three-point evening from Leon Draisaitl were instrumental in a 5-3 come-from-behind victory over the Vancouver Canucks in their season opener at Rogers Place on Wednesday.
Draisaitl began five straight goals for Edmonton beginning in the middle frame with a power-play marker before the German set up two more from McDavid and Darnell Nurse to square the score at 3-3 heading into the third period.
The captain called his own number in the final five minutes of regulation with the initial shot and rebound for his 700th NHL point and the game-winning goal before completing his 11th-career hat trick into the empty net to sea the opening-night win for the Oilers and get their season off and running.
"We believe in each other," McDavid said post-game. "It's not going to be perfect every night. You're not going to have the game that you want every night, and sometimes you have to win with your B- and C-game. It certainly wasn't our A-game to start, but we found a way to get our legs going and get ourselves back into it."
The Blue & Orange were plagued by eight minor penalties, but the resilient Edmonton penalty kill limited Vancouver to 1-for-8 with the man advantage while the Oilers went 3-for-4 on the powerplay. Jack Campbell made 33 saves on 36 shots in his regular-season Oilers debut, while Zach Hyman chipped in with two assists.
Video: OILERS TODAY | Post-Game vs VAN 10.12.22

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A giveaway from Dylan Holloway as Edmonton tried to break out of the defensive zone inside the opening two minutes of the game led to Elias Pettersson intercepting the puck and tucking a close-post effort past Campbell from the goal line on the Swede's second touch.
Not even a minute later, J.T. Miller walked down the left side on a 3-on-1 and sniped Vancouver's second in quick succession glove side into the top shelf to leave Edmonton in an early 2-0 hole.
"I don't think we were sharp. I don't think we were in sync early," Head Coach Jay Woodcroft said. "We found a way to win the game, that is a really good sign, but we can be better. It's incumbent upon us to make sure we honestly look at the areas we can be better and we will address them tomorrow."
A cross-checking call on McDavid before five minutes had expired in the match marked the first of three first-period penalties for Edmonton that took some of the rhythm out of their rhyme in the opening 20 minutes. Nurse was called for interference as the clock expired on the opening frame, meaning the Canucks would open the second period with the man advantage.
"Certainly not the start you're looking for," McDavid said. "Two early, a bunch of penalties, and down three through half the game -- that's not a recipe for much success. But Soup kept us in there, let us get our legs under us and we found a way to get a win."
Video: POST-RAW | Connor McDavid 10.12.22
The Oilers searched for an answer after going down 2-0 early, but Thatcher Demko denied them. Zach Hyman took a low rim from the left corner with nearly six minutes gone in the first period and waited to find Jesse Puljujarvi alone in front for the Grade-A opportunity, but the Canucks netminder flashed the left pad on the Finn before snagging the rebound with his glove to keep it a two-goal game.
Demko, who made 61 starts last season for Vancouver and earned 33 victories, is expected to carry a large workload again this season in the Canucks crease. On the night, the Canucks number-one goalie stopped 21 of 25 shots.
Video: POST-RAW | Jack Campbell 10.12.22
Never count the Oilers out, and NEVER forget about Drai.
Draisaitl was at the centre of a second-period comeback for the Oilers that saw the Blue & Orange score three unanswered to tie the game at 3-3 after Andrei Kuzmenko converted a Vancouver powerplay in the first minute of the frame for his first NHL goal. The German opened Edmonton's account for the 2022-23 season with the finish on their first first man advantage before providing the 'tac' of a tic-tac-toe power-play goal that was buried by McDavid with just under six minutes remaining.
"It was a great play by everybody," McDavid said. "Everybody touched the puck in six or seven seconds, so any time that happens it's usually pretty nice. We have some good players out there that've been together for a long time. We've been a good powerplay for a real long time, we're comfortable with each other and we know where each other are going to be."
Video: Oilers score 5 straight to take the opener 5-3
In the final minute of the middle stanza, this time with the Oilers down a man shorthanded, Draisaitl set up Nurse for the one-timer on a 2-on-1 that rocketed past the sliding Demko to send these two Pacific Division foes into the second intermission tied at three. Draisaitl extended his point streak against the Canucks to 16 games dating back to Dec. 1, 2019 that represents the current longest active point steak for any player against one opponent in the NHL.
Video: POST-RAW | Leon Draisaitl 10.12.22
The Captain gave the Oilers their first lead of the contest and recorded his 700th career NHL point as the clock ticked into the final five minutes of regulation.
Hyman dished a backhand to McDavid, who dangled into the slot and let go of a wrist shot that was blocked before he cleaned up his own chance and put it past Demko for his second goal of the game that lifted the Oilers into a 4-3 lead late and stood as the game-winner. Evander Kane unselfishly offloaded a pass to McDavid in the last minute with the net empty to let him cap off the hat trick.
"That was a nice play by Kaner," McDavid said. "It's not fun being at zero (points), so there was definitely the chance for him to get off zero and it was an unselfish play for sure. I definitely appreciate it."
Video: VAN@EDM: McDavid's gets 700th point on 2nd goal
It took McDavid just 488 games to reach 700 points for his career, the sixth-fastest in NHL history, and three goals and an assist tonight gives him a great start on chasing his first 50-goal season and sixth 100-point campaign.
"Obviously each year, he finds ways to improve," Nurse said. "It's great to be his teammate and watch the amount of work he puts in and the dedication he has to this game. He's earned every point that he's got so far. It's fun to see and I know he's just hungry for the next one."
Video: POST-RAW | Darnell Nurse 10.12.22
Woodcroft on Campbell battling past the first few goals:
"I thought his play allowed us to recover and work our way back into the game. I think the penalty kill was a big story in the game because we had to do it way too much tonight and some things were self-inflicted. When your goaltender is your best penalty killer like he was tonight, it sets you up for some success on special teams. Even though we gave up one on the kill, I think the shorthanded goal by Darnell was a gamechanger for us and it was a big part of the game."
Campbell on bouncing back from three goals on the first 15 shots to record his first Oilers win:
"I was pretty fired up and they got two quick ones, two goals I'd like to have back. It just showed the resiliency in our team. They're a good team over there and it's not an easy lead to come back from when you're down by two that early. I thought we did a great job of just staying focused. We got a lot of huge blocks on the PK to give ourselves a chance to come back, and we were able to finish it off."
Video: POST-RAW | Jay Woodcroft 10.12.22
Draisaitl on a special-teams centred opening game against Vancouver:
"I don't even know if there was any 5-on-5 play. It was just one penalty kill after another one, but the powerplay was coming up big and I thought our penalty kill was pretty good."
Nurse on the Oilers keeping their composure after tying the game heading into the third period:
"We were just calm. We trusted our process and we wanted to play a more direct and more forward game. I felt we did that in the third, good teams find ways to win and we found a way to win."
McDavid on the Oilers dressing only 17 skaters (11 forwards, six defencemen):
"I think it was pretty regular. The forwards, we're used to 11 and the D is used to six. I think probably on the back end, they can stay in their rhythm a little bit. For us, we're used to 11. We know we're going to play with lots of different guys, and sometimes the lineup at the beginning of the night is not the way it ends. We're comfortable with that. We have lots of good players, and when he shuffles it up, sometimes it works and tonight it worked."
Woodcroft on earning the victory with only 17 skaters:
"It felt different to me. It was the way it was. We found a way to win a game with 11-and-6 playing one man short tonight. I don't think that's the scenario that we looked to start the season with, but it was what it was. I think the hard part with having 11 forwards is we had so many penalties, so what we end up doing is you over-tax certain individuals and then other guys maybe go cold a little bit because there's been so many penalties. That was something we had to deal with, but we figured it out and found a way to win."