GAME STORY: Canucks 5, Oilers 3

EDMONTON, AB - Brock Boeser scored the game-winning and insurance goals in the third period as the Vancouver Canucks beat the Oilers 5-3 in the 2020-21 season opener.

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The Canucks never trailed on Wednesday as the Oilers scored equalizing goals from Kailer Yamamoto and Darnell Nurse, plus one more in the third from Adam Larsson, but the visitors claimed the first win in the first of 10 games between the West Coast rivals this season.

FIRST BLOOD

The visitors from Vancouver got on the board first at 15:32 of the opening frame as Tanner Pearson drew Larsson and Zack Kassian to the boards, absorbed the contact and made a pass to a streaking Bo Horvat who snuck in alone and beat Mikko Koskinen with a close-range wrist shot.

PLAY OF THE GAME

The first Oilers goal of the season was a thing of beauty as Leon Draisaitl found Yamamoto in the slot for a one-timer snipe over the shoulder of Brayden Holtby to tie the game at 1-1 at the 5:39 mark of the middle frame. Yamamoto had 11 goals and 15 assists in 27 games after his call-up to close out the 2019-20 regular season.

SAVE OF THE GAME

Holtby made an outstanding save on Connor McDavid midway through the second period as the Oilers captain darted to the net, drew a slashing penalty on Travis Hamonic and nearly put Edmonton up 2-1 if not for the goalie's outstretched pad that just kept McDavid's backhand attempt from crossing the line.

TURNING POINT

After Nurse evened the score at 2-2 just 10 seconds into the third period, Adam Gaudette swung the momentum right back in the Canucks favour with the 3-2 tally at 1:53, one-timing a pass from Antoine Roussel over Koskinen's blocker-side shoulder to restore Vancouver's lead.

TOP PERFORMER

Boeser showed off his shooting prowess with the fourth and fifth goals of the game for the Canucks on a pair of snipes past Koskinen. The 23-year-old winger had a drop-off in goals last season, scoring 16 times after campaigns with 26 and 29 goals in 2018-19 and 2017-18 respectively, but his two-tally night in the season opener gave him a strong start to 2020-21.

NEXT UP

The Oilers and Canucks will square off again on Thursday at 7pm MT for their second of 10 meetings this season in the all-Canadian North Division. Edmonton will have an optional skate in the morning, followed by a media availability, when any lineup changes would be announced.

PARTING WORDS

"We haven't played in a while, so I don't think we expected the perfect game, but this was kind of far from it," said Larsson, who played 14:14 in the defeat, scoring his 22nd career goal.
"It's not easy to play two games in two days, but we have to and we want to bounce back as soon as possible tomorrow," said Dominik Kahun, who played 14:34 and had one assist in his Oilers debut.
"Poor puck play and poor reads led to Grade A chances against, and if you give them enough of them they're going to capitalize," said Head Coach Dave Tippett.