GDB -8.0 Wrap Up: Oilers wrap up their pre-season with a 3-2 win that came down to the wire

THINGS WORTH MENTIONING…

• Evan Bouchard opened the scoring with a clapper from the point and as I was watching the replay, all I could think about was how I hope he shoots the puck 2000 times this year. The guy absolutely blasts off from the point and that shot will get him a lot of goals if he can find a way to keep firing.
• What else can I say about Lamborghini Perlini? The guy has six goals in six preseason games and he’s doing it without McDavid or Draisaitl at his side, which makes this story that much funnier than what happened with Ty Rattie a few years back. As much as we all know this heater will cool down eventually, I’m having a great time watching the guy work his way into a roster spot that not many people would have seen coming even a month ago.
• Kailer Yamamoto picked up a shorthanded goal after finding his way behind the Canucks defenders and roofing the puck up over Demko. It was the kind of goal that Yamamoto can provide when he’s feeling himself, and I’m hoping this preseason marker is enough to give him a boost.
• This morning, Dave Tippett talked about trying to build some chemistry between Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Zach Hyman since they’ll be playing together in literally every situation so I was just watching to see how they work together. While the trio of Hyman-RNH-Yamamoto was able to generate a few chances here and there, I think it’s going to take some more time to figure out if there’s anything there. That said, I’d still much prefer to see McDavid and Draisaitl centering their own lines.
• Mikko Koskinen played the first half of the game and I was just hoping for him to be steady between the pipes and make the stops you’d want him to make. And as hoped, the giant Finn delivered with some big saves, some lucky saves, and handled everything the Canucks threw his way before making way for Stuart Skinner. Koskinen stopped all 11 shots he faced for a perfect first period.
• As for Stuart Skinner, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I’m very much looking forward to seeing what he does with the split duty with Ilya Konovalov this year. For the first time in a while, it feels like we’ve got some hope between the pipes and I’m very much hoping Skinner will be a big part of that.
• Even when Zach Hyman loses the puck, he never stops moving his feet to try and either get it back or put himself in a position to keep his opponent from getting a quality look at the net. We heard a lot about Hyman’s work ethic before we got here and there are already all kinds of examples you can pull that seem to back that up.
• Tyler Benson coughed up the puck on the Canucks’ first goal with a pretty tough giveaway and I wonder if that will be the dagger that sends him to Bakersfield for a while.
• I’ll be waiting to see what happens with Kyle Turris now that the pre-season is over because it’s not like he played poorly, but he didn’t exactly shoot the lights out either. The question becomes
• Cody Ceci is new here and I’m absolutely going to give him some time to settle in, but the guy makes me nervous. I’ll leave it at that.
• Speaking of which, the Keith – Ceci pairing was an adventure and I’m hopeful that
• I’ll be honest, I was happy to see that Connor and Leon wouldn’t be playing because there is honestly nothing that those two dudes need to learn about themselves or their play in the pre-season. We know they’re good, they know they’re good, Dave Tippett knows they’re good, and 20 more minutes of TOI in a meaningless hockey game wasn’t going to change that.
• I wonder what’s going to happen with the spot left by Zack Kassian if he’s out for any length of time. I know that Dave Tippett said that Kass would have played tonight if he could, but what the coach says and when the doctors actually give him the clearance to play again are two different stories and someone will need to fill his shoes while he’s out. Does the Kassian injury give Sceviour a chance?
• I’ve gotta be honest, it’s pretty funny to me that Canucks fans are still booing Duncan Keith after all these years. In case you don’t remember why they were booing Keith, David Quadrelli from Canucksarmy reminded us about the dirty elbow Keith threw at Daniel Sedin back in 2012 that kicked off the booing that’s been going on for nearly a decade.
• Oilers wrap up their pre-season with a 6-1-1 record.

SCORING SUMMARY

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