EDMONTON — Casey DeSmith made a strong first impression in his Vancouver Canucks debut on Saturday.
DeSmith made 37 saves and Nils Hoglander had a goal and an assist as the Canucks continued their early season dominance over the Edmonton Oilers, emerging with a 4-3 victory.
“Obviously, coming to a new team it feels so good to contribute early and get two points and be a big part of the win and just kind of come together as a team early. And I think we’re doing that,” said DeSmith, who played five seasons in Pittsburgh before being dealt to Montreal this summer and then subsequently flipped to Vancouver before the start of the season.
“Good teams find a way, so it’s a good way to start off the season, finding a way.”
Andrei Kuzmenko, Jack Studnicka and Sam Lafferty also scored for the Canucks (2-0), who whipped the same Oilers 8-1 in their season-opener on Wednesday. Vancouver was winless in its first seven games last season.
“We had some good pushback, we killed a lot of penalties, we had some guys on fumes, we were overusing some guys because of the penalty kill, so I give a lot of credit to the guys,” said Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet, whose team killed five of seven penalties against the potent Oilers power play.
“I thought Casey DeSmith was outstanding, he battled his ass off. Petey (Elias Pettersson) I think he played with every person on a line and he did a great job. The whole team did a nice job.”
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had a goal and two assists and Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid also scored for the Oilers (0-2), who outshot the visitors 40-16.
“If you lose two games in the middle of the season it is not the end of the world,” said Oilers forward Zach Hyman. “You lose two games here and you get all these questions about your defensive game. It is not ideal, obviously, to lose the first two games. But there is no panic. We are a pretty confident group.”
Edmonton came out looking for retribution for Wednesday’s loss and found it just 42 seconds into the opening period after a flurry of shots on Canucks goaltender DeSmith paid off with Draisaitl poking it in from under his pads in the crease for his second goal of the young season.
The Canucks tied it midway through the first on the power play as a long shot by Quinn Hughes was tipped past Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner by Kuzmenko.
Vancouver took a 2-1 lead with two minutes to play in the first as Brock Boeser hustled to keep a puck onside and launched a long shot on net that was tipped past Skinner by Hoglander in tight.
Edmonton knotted the game two minutes into the second period on the power play as the puck came loose to McDavid during a mad scramble in front and he scored his first of the season.
However, the Canucks regained the lead less than a minute later when a giveaway allowed a two-on-none break with Pettersson sending it to Studnicka, who sniped a shot through Skinner’s legs. Studnicka is currently with the Canucks as an emergency call-up.
The Oilers rallied back again with another power-play goal midway through the middle frame as Nugent-Hopkins walked in from the point and elected to shoot himself, beating DeSmith glove-side with a heavy wrist shot.
Vancouver once again surged in front three minutes into the third period as Lafferty cut in hard on net and managed to chip the puck past Skinner.
Edmonton almost tied it again on a two-man advantage nine minutes into the third, but a Draisaitl bullet banged off the post.
“We lost the game, so there are four moments in the game we would like to have back,” said Oilers defenceman Mattias Ekholm.
“But at the same time you have to look at 60 minutes and the effort and it is a long season. I think if we keep the shot clock that lopsided in most of our games this year we are going to end up on the winning side. So we will learn from it and move on.”
NOTES
Edmonton came into the game with a 24-14-5 record in home openers. … Vancouver forward Boeser played in his 400th career NHL game. Boeser was the star in Wednesday’s win over the Oilers with four goals. He became the 10th player in NHL history to score four goals in a season opener. … Oilers defenceman Mattias Ekholm played in his first game after missing the entire training camp with an injury. … Making his debut as an Oiler was forward Adam Erne, who attended camp on a professional tryout and earned a two-way contract. Erne spent the past four seasons with the Detroit Red Wings, dressing in 241 games while recording 27 goals and 35 assists. … Nugent-Hopkins picked up his 400th career assist in the contest.
UP NEXT
Both teams return to the ice Tuesday, The Canucks play the second game of a five-game road trip in Philadelphia against the Flyers, while the Oilers are in Nashville to face the Predators.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 14, 2023.
Shane Jones, The Canadian Press
