The Canucks’ opening-night win over Edmonton came with all the chaos you’d expect from a game that swung from a 5-2 Vancouver lead to overtime before the home side finally closed it out. Evan Bouchard piled up five points, including a hat trick, the Oilers tied it with 43 seconds left, and yet the Canucks still walked away with the victory. Paul Cotter scored a shorthanded goal, Max Sasson made the key play on the winner, and Manny Malhotra picked up his first NHL coaching victory.
Now the rematch arrives, and Edmonton gets its shot at revenge. Vancouver, meanwhile, gets a second crack at proving that opening night was about more than just a wild one-off.
What stood out most in that opener wasn’t the scoring frenzy. It was what Vancouver did after the game started slipping away.
Malhotra talked afterward about resiliency and players stepping up in big moments, and this time the performance backed up the message. A team that finished with the NHL’s worst record last season could have folded after giving up three goals.
Instead, it found a way to answer.
The overtime winner captured that perfectly. Cotter won a puck battle against Ryan Shea, somehow got the puck to Max Sasson while lying on the ice, got back up, drove to the net and finished the play. For a new coach and a group trying to build a different identity, that’s as clean a first chapter as you could ask for.
Edmonton, though, did not leave satisfied. Head coach Mike Babcock called the loss ridiculous and pointed to turnovers, long shifts and poor decisions.
Even Bouchard, after his five-point night, said the Oilers needed to be more detailed. Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl remain Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, but Vancouver has something it didn’t seem to have much of last season: belief.
That same sense of what matters most in Vancouver showed up in a different way during season-opening media availability, when Brock Boeser came up as a player whose value might be easy to overlook. He’s 29, has been in Vancouver since 2015, and has lived through nearly every version of the organization since then. He was drafted by the Canucks in 2015, became a star, saw the excitement of the 2024 Playoffs, went through coaching and management changes, and stayed through the tougher parts of the rebuild.
Boeser also appears to genuinely want to remain in Vancouver. That makes him more than just another veteran on a roster in transition. He may end up being the player who connects one era of Canucks hockey to the next.
Malhotra has already pointed to what Boeser can offer younger players because he’s seen the highs and lows in Vancouver. Boeser isn’t the loud, motivational type, and he doesn’t need to be. His value is in the example he sets and in showing the younger players what it means to be a Canuck.
He’s also an American who seems to love the city and wants to stay there, which is no small thing in today’s NHL. A player who has spent his entire career with one franchise, embraces the market and remains committed while a new generation comes in is a real asset.
Boeser already has some memorable Vancouver moments on his résumé. He was a major part of the 2024 playoff run, putting up 12 points in 12 games and scoring three goals in Game 4 against the Nashville Predators. Then a blood clot kept him out of Game 7 against Edmonton.
That left one of those lingering what-ifs. But the bigger picture is still unfolding. Boeser arrived with one version of the Canucks, watched the organization change around him and now finds himself alongside a younger group trying to build something new.
He doesn’t have to be the face of the rebuild. He just has to keep being a good player and a steady professional who wants to be in Vancouver. If this next chapter works, Boeser may wind up being remembered not as a leftover from the old days, but as part of the bridge to the new ones.
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The opener in Edmonton had plenty of the kind of drama fans remember long after the final horn, and Evan Bouchard was right at the center of it with a performance that gave the home crowd plenty to cheer about. Even in a game that went to overtime, there was enough offense and enough spectacle to make it feel like one of those nights that can shape early-season conversation.
Mike Babcock, though, was not interested in celebrating the mood around the arena after the loss. The Oilers coach turned his focus straight to the other end of the ice and made it clear he expected more from his team without the puck, leaving the performance as much a warning as a takeaway for a club that already knows its margin for error can be thin. [Read more 🡒]
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Gretzky also said he hopes McDavid eventually gets the Stanley Cup finish that has so far eluded him, pointing to the way the Oilers captain carries himself and his constant drive to win. For a fan base that lives and dies with McDavids decisions, the timing matters too, because he wont be able to sign another extension until July 1, 2027, leaving plenty of runway for the speculation that always follows a player of his stature. [Read more 🡒]
Oilers Suddenly Face A Bigger Nugent-Hopkins Concern Than Fans Expected
The Oilers forward depth took another hit Monday when Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was placed on injured reserve after a lower-body injury suffered late in practice. The timing adds another layer of concern for Edmonton, which has already been managing a crowded injury list and now has to navigate a stretch without one of its most reliable two-way centers, with the expectation being that the absence could last about two weeks.
Josh Samanski was recalled under emergency conditions to help fill the gap up front, giving the Oilers another temporary option while the lineup stays in flux. Edmonton also has Matt Savoie and Alec Regula on long-term injured reserve with month-to-month timelines, so Nugent-Hopkins status only sharpens the pressure on a depth chart that is already being tested in a hurry. [Read more 🡒]