GAME RECAP: Canucks 6, Oilers 2

VANCOUVER, BC – The Edmonton Oilers began their three-game West Coast road trip on Monday night with a 6-2 defeat to the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena.

Mattias Ekholm opened the scoring as part of a strong start for the Blue & Orange in the opening 10 minutes, but a three-goal stretch of 3:22 from the Canucks in the second half of the first period turned the tides and provided the hosts the offence they needed to win their third game this season over the Blue & Orange.

Goaltender Stuart Skinner made 29 saves in defeat, while Leon Draisaitl was able to break a seven-game goalless drought in the second period.

"I thought the start obviously is something that we wanted to do – come out hard, come out strong – and we did that," Skinner said. "Letting a couple of goals pretty quick, it kind of just killed us a bit."

"Tough loss."

The Oilers head to San Jose for a matchup with the Sharks at SAP Center on Thursday evening.

FIRST PERIOD

It was a tale of two halves for the Blue & Orange in the opening 20 minutes.

The Oilers began the game just how they would've wanted – with plenty of pucks on net and the majority of offensive-zone possession – and deservedly took the lead at 6:42 of the first period when the second power-play unit put Edmonton on the board after Mattias Ekholm ripped home the opening goal from inside the left circle.

The Oilers were outshooting the Canucks 18-2 at the midway mark of the period while owning all the momentum and a 1-0 lead, but the tide quickly turned in the frame's second half.

"I don't know if you can play a better first 15 minutes of that period," Mattias Ekholm said. "I looked at the shot clock after 14 minutes, it's like 18 shots or something and we're humming. Then it just seems to be a break here, a break there and a break there, and then it's 3-1.

A tough three-goal stretch of 3:22 for the Canucks began when Quinn Hughes tried to pick out Ilya Mikheyev at the back post, but his attempted pass unfortunately struck the blade of Vincent Desharnais on its way through to equalize for Vancouver on a tough break for the Quebec-born defenceman.

Just under two minutes later, Pius Suter was left unchecked in the slot to accept Dakota Joshua's pass and beat Stuart Skinner under his right arm to put the Canucks ahead 2-1 on only their fifth shot of the period.

"I thought we did a lot of good things. We came out and asserted the way we wanted to play," Head Coach Jay Woodcroft said. "I think their first goal we shot in our own net, which is never fun. The second goal we can better on."

Before the break, the Canucks were given their first power play when Darnell Nurse went off for cross-checking Sam Lafferty in front of Edmonton's crease.

Brock Boeser converted the Canucks' third goal off a second effort that came from J.T. Miller's attempt on goal with just under five minutes remaining, completing a frustrating stretch for the Oilers before the first intermission.

"It's hard because these guys are working their bag off. They did such a good job, especially in the first period," Skinner said. "We had 18 shots after I think seven minutes. It was pretty impressive. And Demko obviously did a great job, but that's the guy who I've got to beat out. I got to beat out the other goaltender and I didn't do that tonight."

" I think I can do a lot better to help my team out. I'm the goalie. My job is to stop the puck, and I let in six, so that's not a good recipe to win games."

SECOND PERIOD

When it looked like their fortunes might turn, it was a recurring defensive issue for the Oilers that kept the Canucks ahead by two through 40 minutes.

Edmonton reduced their deficit to a single goal when Leon Draisaitl broke his goalless streak of seven games on a broken play that was created by an attempted pick behind the Vancouver net by goalie Thatcher Demko.

Demko stuck out the right pad to slow down Dylan Holloway, who was rounding the net in pursuit of a Canucks’ defenceman, but the ensuing collision forced the puck loose inside the trapezoid and allowed Warren Foegele to find Draisaitl wide open in front for an open-net tally.

With the potential there for a Canucks challenge, the Vancouver bench didn’t question the referees’ decision after it was apparent that the netminder intentionally stuck his leg out to slow Holloway down, meaning we had a 3-2 score with over 12 minutes to play in the middle frame.

The Oilers players and coach had picked out odd-man rushes as a point of emphasis in their defensive game, and an errant pinch from Evan Bouchard off an offensive-zone faceoff would ultimately cost them another goal before the intermission.

After the blueliner tried to break up a potential rush for the Canucks, Sam Lafferty wheeled away with Anthony Beauvillier on a 2-on-1 where Vancouver restored their two-goal lead on Nils Hoglander’s rebound that came off the shot from Lafferty.

The Canucks outshot the Oilers 17-9 in the period and kept hold of their two-goal lead as both teams entered the second intermission.

THIRD PERIOD

From 'no goal' for Foegele to 'it's a goal' for Miller, the final frame didn't include the comeback Edmonton wanted.

Foegele had the puck in the back of Vancouver's net in the opening minute of the third period in what the Markham, Ont. product thought was his fourth goal of the season, but after a Canucks' challenge, the referees reversed the decision believing that the winger kicked the puck over the goal line.

The Oilers had to play on despite the decision from the officials, and it was a late buzzer that made the deficit too much to overcome.

On a 4-on-3 power play for the Canucks after the Oilers began taking penalties, including a roughing penalty to Connor McDavid, Miller's shot from the top of the zone looked like it had struck the crossbar until the buzzer at Rogers Arena sounded to let the officials know they should take another look.

The goal was given to Vancouver to extend their lead to 5-2, which stood up as the final score at the final buzzer.

The Oilers were charged with two 10-minute misconducts in the final period to Leon Draisaitl and Head Coach Jay Woodcroft, who was ejected from the bench in the final 10 minutes of regulation for unsportsmanlike conduct defending a hard cross-check to the back of Dylan Holloway.

"I asked about the play on Holloway and it wasn't profanity-laced or anything like that. It was a question," Woodcroft said. "It wasn't well received when I asked the question, and in the end, I've got to better. I can't take a penalty to put our team down, but I didn't think it crossed the line at all.

"Sometimes the way you send a message or ask a question, the way it's received, might be not in the manner you intend it to. In the end, the reason I asked that question, I thought it was similar to the penalty that McDavid took to go down 4-on-3, so I thought it was a fair question. He didn't, and in the end, I've got to better. I can't ask that question apparently. 

"He's a passionate guy, like we all are," McDavid added. "That happens."

PARTING WORDS

McDavid on his altercation with JT Miller and roughing penalty on Quinn Highes in the third period:

"Just maybe frustration boiling over for everybody I gave him a good shot. He gave me a good shot coming in front of the net and just shoved him back. Nothing crazy. And Hyms jumps in. Obviously appreciate that. And then in the other end, not frustration at all. The guy turns into me and I keep going and they call the penalty. So that wasn't frustration, that was just trying to play hockey. And Kelly obviously saw something that he felt was a penalty."

Ekholm on the frustration of not being able to turn a lead into a victory:

"Yes, but right now it just feels like whatever we do, I think the last two to three games we've had great starts and for some reason we find ourselves in a deficit going into the intermission... and it's not to feel sorry about myself. I'm just saying that's our reality right now, and we have to work even harder to get rewarded and that's just where we're at right now. It's a frustrating part. 

"I don't think I've ever had a worse start to a season in my career, and it's a test for sure, but I know we have the team to turn it around. It's a matter of duplicating that start and then obviously hold it for 60 minutes. But yeah, right now it's frustrating."