Nils Hoglander collected one goal and one assist, Sam Lafferty scored the third-period game winner and goalie Casey DeSmith sparkled in net as the visiting Vancouver Canucks spoiled the Edmonton Oilers’ home opener with a 4-3 victory Saturday night.
Andrei Kuzmenko and Jack Studnicka also scored for the Canucks, while Elias Pettersson notched a pair of assists, but the difference maker was DeSmith. Vancouver’s No. 2 goalie made 37 saves to backstop his team to consecutive upset victories over the high-octane Oilers.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored once in a three-point game, while Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid both collected one goal and one assist for the Oilers, who failed to exact revenge from the 8-1 drubbing they suffered in Vancouver to open the season. Goalie Stuart Skinner stopped 12 shots.
With the score even, Lafferty, who was acquired via trade just before the season started, put the Canucks ahead 2:56 into the third period when he used his speed to gain a step on the defender and held off the check as he netted his first of the season.
DeSmith held the fort the rest of the way, including while the Canucks killed a 52-second Edmonton five-on-three power play and during the furious late push.
From the drop of the puck, the Oilers were all over the Canucks and it took only 42 seconds for Draisaitl to open the scoring when he tucked home a loose puck during a wild flurry of action for his second goal of the season.
Kuzmenko responded with a power-play goal just before the midway point of the opening frame, finding the net with a deflection of the point shot for his first goal of the campaign.
Hoglander scored a similar goal to give the Canucks a 2-1 edge with 2:09 remaining in the first period, a deflection of Brock Boeser’s high shot for his first of the season.
McDavid replied with a power-play goal of his own 1:45 into the second period when he buried a loose puck for his first of the season.
However, Studnicka converted a two-man breakaway 51 seconds later for his first of the season to again put the Canucks ahead only to see Nugent-Hopkins bury another power-play goal before the clash’s midway point for his first of the season.
Draisaitl has a 20-game point streak against the Canucks, in which he has posted 15 goals and 18 assists. It is the longest active streak for a player against a single opponent.
–Field Level Media
