Paul Cotter gave the Vancouver Canucks the kind of opener they’ll be talking about for a while.
In a wild 6-5 overtime win over the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday, Cotter scored the first goal of the season for Vancouver and then finished the job in extra time, beating Tristan Jarry at 1:59 to seal the victory. The Canucks started the 2026-27 campaign with two points after a night that swung hard in both directions.
The game had plenty of chaos baked into it. Vancouver opened up a three-goal lead in the third period, then watched it vanish before regulation was done. Still, Cotter’s overtime strike sent the Canucks home with a 1-0 record and a dramatic road win to begin the year.
Kevin Lankinen played a big part in getting them there. He stopped 31 shots overall and gave Vancouver a strong opening to the night, turning aside 12 of 13 chances in the first period alone. There were messy stretches around his crease, but he kept finding answers when the Oilers pressed.
The Canucks also looked far more connected than they often did last season. They generated offense off the rush, punished turnovers and generally seemed to be working off the same script for most of the night. The defensive lapses were still there, but the bigger picture was hard to miss: the plan was recognizable, and the group executed it well enough to win.
Manny Malhotra picked up his first victory as an NHL head coach, adding another notable line to a night already packed with them. At 46, he now belongs to a small group of people who have both played for and coached the franchise.
“Not the way we drew it up for sure,” said Malhotra after his first career win. “Obviously, a lot of really good things to score five goals in a game.
Obviously, we don't want to give up three in the third period. That's something that we definitely need to work on.
But just the resiliency to stay with it for us was a huge factor in the game. Then the guys stepping up in different ways.
Lanks (Lankinen) made some key saves, especially down the stretch there. Our kill did a job throughout the course of the game.
Obviously, elite power play and kind of limiting them to as much as we did. It was good, but the overall joy of winning a game takes precedence right now.
Vancouver got scoring from across the lineup. Marco Rossi, Jonathan Lekkerimäki, Max Sasson and Elias Pettersson also scored, giving the Canucks five different goal scorers on the night. Cotter’s first came shorthanded in the opening period, and his second came in overtime off a setup from Sasson.
The third period was where things turned into a track meet. Lekkerimäki scored 1:10 into the frame, Sasson added one at 2:55 and Pettersson made it 5-2 at 5:15 on the power play. Edmonton then punched back with goals from Vasily Podkolzin at 8:45 and 19:17, while Evan Bouchard scored again at 9:20 to pull the Oilers all the way back into it.
Bouchard finished with three goals for Edmonton, and Podkolzin scored twice. The Oilers also got a first-period goal from Bouchard at 16:26 and another tally from him in the second at 14:34, the latter set up by Connor McDavid and Alex Formenton.
The Canucks had a few statistical milestones to go with the win. Cotter scored his first career shorthanded goal, Filip Hronek’s 132nd point moved him past Bob Dailey and into a tie with another spot in franchise history, Brock Boeser passed J.T. Miller and moved into sole possession of 10th all-time in franchise history for power play points, and Lankinen’s 37th win moved him past Kay Whitmore and into 12th all-time for wins in franchise history.
For a season opener, it had everything: momentum swings, big saves, special-teams damage and a finish that belonged to the new guy. Vancouver now turns to Thursday, October 1, when the Oilers are back on the schedule.
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Now 34, Forbort is on a new path in the American Hockey League, where he will try to prove he still has something left to offer. For a player whose value has long come from defensive reliability and special-teams work, the next challenge is clear enough: show he can stay available and effective, then see whether the door back to the NHL opens again. [Read more 🡒]