It’s Saturday night at Rogers Place, and the Edmonton Oilers are back at it for their second game of the young season, still looking for their first win after a frustrating shootout loss to the Flames on Wednesday. Despite controlling much of that game and building a 3–0 lead, the Oilers let things slip away in the back half thanks to a bad bounce, a questionable high stick, and a soft tying goal that Stuart Skinner will want back.

It wasn’t the start anyone hoped for, but there’s no better opportunity to bounce back than against a division rival. Frankly, we’ve got problems if our boys can’t get fired up to play the Canucks, and I’ll be expecting a much higher level of execution here for night two. Edmonton went 2–1–0 against Vancouver last season, and they’ll need to keep their details much tighter if they’re going to assert that same level of dominance for the second straight year. Not only do the Oilers want to get in the win column, but picking up two points at home before hitting the road for five straight would be a nice setup for that road trip.

The Canucks, meanwhile, come into Edmonton on a high note after opening their season with a 5–1 win over the Flames on Thursday. The Flames looked tired after beating the Oilers the night before, and, to their credit, the Canucks took full advantage even with a few bumps along the way. There’s no denying that they’ve got some very talented pieces — Quinn Hughes is one of the best defencemen in the league, Elias Pettersson can change games on nights when he’s not invisible, and Thatcher Demko is a legitimate difference-maker in net — but even with plenty of strong players, there are a lot of questions lingering after last year’s fall out of the playoffs.

Vancouver’s front office spent most of last year putting out fires of their own creation, and even after trying to say the right things all summer, it’s still unclear whether this version of the Canucks can pull it back together. Yeah, they looked solid in their opening win over the Flames on the second half of a back-to-back, but only time will tell if they can keep it together over the course of the season. One strong (or bad) game doesn’t mean much this early in October, and I’m very intrigued to see where the Canucks end up when April rolls around. But before we can think ahead to the playoffs, there are still 81 more games to get through first.

Of course, a storyline that everyone will be watching around these parts is Evander Kane’s return to Edmonton. This is his first trip back as a member of the Canucks after spending the last four seasons with the Oilers, and I’m pretty sure everyone reading this knows why that should make us nervous. The former-Oiler curse is real, and it almost feels inevitable that Kane will be playing like a man on fire. Whether a jacked-up Kane ends up being bad news for us or a good thing with the penalties he tends to take, you still know he’d love nothing more than to make an impact against his old club after being shipped to Vancouver over the summer.

As for Edmonton’s lineup, it looks like we’re getting the same group and lines that we got on Wednesday night. While many of us are eager to see what we have in our newly signed forward, Jack Roslovic, he won’t be making his Oilers his debut just yet. After practice on Thursday, Kris Knoblauch said the plan is to get him up to speed with a couple of practices before throwing him into game action, which makes sense given the team’s packed schedule. It makes sense, even if I do want to get a look at our newest shiny toy.

“After Friday, we don’t have very many practices,” said Knoblauch. “We practice Friday, play Saturday, we’ll practice on Sunday, and then we’re traveling out east, so our schedule doesn’t really allow him to get some practices under his belt and fit in with the team, so it’ll probably be sooner than later.”

The Canucks might be feeling good after beating a tired Flames team, but that momentum should mean nothing in Edmonton’s barn. The Oilers need to park Wednesday’s collapse, play to their strengths, and show up like the team we all know they can be. It’s early, sure, but this is the kind of night that sets the tone for what’s to come. Even though we’re only talking about game two of the regular season, we all know damned well how hard it can be to climb out of an early hole, and I’d really like to see the Oilers avoid that grind for the third year in a row.

Let’s see what the numbers say…

THE NUMBERS

	OILERS	CANUCKS
RECORD	0-0-1	1-0-0
WIN/LOSS STREAK	L1	W1
GOALS FOR	3	5
GOALS AGAINST	4	1
POWER PLAY%	50	0
PENALTY KILL%	75	100
AVG. SHOTS/FOR	35.0	26.0
AVG. SHOTS/AGAINST	22.0	18.0
TEAM SAVE%	.846	.917
CORSI FOR%	54.12	43.06
PDO	0.892	1.211
TEAM SHOOTING%	4.55	29.41
EXPECTED GOALS FOR%	63.32	52.81

Numbers courtesy of Natural Stat Trick (Sv%, CF%, PDO, Shooting%, xGF% all at 5×5)

Connor McDavid has 68 points (24G, 44A) in 42 career games against the Canucks, which marks his highest total against any NHL opponent.
Leon Draisaitl has points in 24 of his last 25 regular-season games against the Canucks, piling up 41 points (20G, 21A) in that stretch. Drai has also scored in 14 of his last 19 vs. Vancouver, registering 18 goals over that run.
Stuart Skinner owns a career 2–5–0 record vs. Vancouver with an .859 save percentage and 3.78 goals-against average. In case you’re wondering, that’s his lowest totals against any Pacific Division team. Not ideal.
Andrew Mangiapane will play in his 500th NHL game.
Quinn Hughes enters tonight tied with Alex Edler (409) for most points by a defenceman in Canucks history.

LINEUPS…

Oilers

Draisaitl – McDavid – Frederic
Mangiapane – Nugent-Hopkins – Savoie
Podkolzin – Philp – Kapanen
Howard – Henrique – Tomasek

Ekholm – Bouchard
Nurse – Regula
Kulak – Emberson

Pickard

I was very much wondering whether it was going to be Skinner or Pickard that got the start after the way things went on Wednesday, and I can’t say I’m surprised our pal Cal is the guy. While the first two Calgary goals came off a tough bounce and questionable goal call, that third one cannot go in at this level. Even though that goal wasn’t the game winner, there’s little doubt that it changed the game’s entire feel. Pickard doesn’t need to be spectacular tonight, but I would absolutely say that he needs a solid, steady bounce-back performance to quiet the noise and settle things down a bit. Clock’s ticking.

Canucks

DeBrusk – Pettersson – Boeser
Bains – Chytil – Garland
Kane – Cootes – Lekkerimaki
O’Connor – Raty – Sherwood

Hughes – Hronek
M. Pettersson – Myers
Forbort – Other Elias Pettersson

Demko

From my side of the laptop screen, I see a pretty balanced lineup on paper, though there are still some question marks in my mind. The top line with DeBrusk, Pettersson, and Boeser can score in bunches when they’re clicking, but their defensive game can run hot and cold. Beyond that, the depth starts to thin out. There’s some skill in the middle six, but it’s fair to wonder how much they can finish. On the back end, Quinn Hughes and Hronek will do the heavy lifting, while the rest of that group looks like a patchwork mix. But as always, Thatcher Demko is the great equalizer. If he’s on, Vancouver can hang with anyone, so the Oilers will need to do their part to make his life difficult.

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING…

From Canucksarmy.com:

After opening the season in their black skate gear, the Canucks returned to their traditional blue and white colours for practice. The team skated for about 40 minutes in the same line combinations and defensive pairings used in Thursday’s win. It’s expected they’ll go with that same lineup in Edmonton.
Head coach Adam Foote said the team worked on its regroups and getting back faster and having the forwards be available for the defencemen quicker. Foote said he felt his team got caught in that situation a few times against the Flames, and he wanted to drill home the importance of retreating faster early in the season as he tries to instill his systems.
Foote confirmed that rookie – and Sherwood Park, AB native – Braeden Cootes will suit up for his second NHL game in his hometown. Without last change, the club will be challenged to shelter the 18-year-old who could find himself matched up against Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl – or both.