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Pre-Scout: Canucks couldn’t hang with Oilers in first meeting
Edmonton Oilers Noah Philp vs Vancouver Canucks
Photo credit: Perry Nelson-Imagn Images
Michael Menzies
Oct 26, 2025, 14:00 EDTUpdated: Oct 26, 2025, 12:59 EDT
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Both the Edmonton Oilers and the Vancouver Canucks will be coming off Saturday night losses when they converge tonight for their second matchup of the season.
The Canucks had a 2-0 lead into the latter stages of the second period, before a collapse. Vancouver surrendered four unanswered goals and dropped a 4-3 defeat at the hands of the Montreal Canadiens, perhaps still miffed after the whole Edmonton game fiasco. They weren’t complaining about the officiating after power plays swung the game back into their favour this go-round.
Elias Pettersson, an elusive character the Canucks are hoping has the major bounceback season, had a big night, a goal, and two assists.
“We started pretty good,” Pettersson said after the game. “In the thir,d they got some bounces, but we’ve got to be better when we play with the lead.”
It’s three straight losses for the Canucks (4-5), who returned home to play the Habs after a five-game road trip. Conor Garland leads the way with 3-6—9 to begin the campaign, whose game has hovered in and around 50 points for multiple years with the Canucks.
Head coach Adam Foote is a rookie as a bench boss and wasn’t exactly the hottest coaching candidate after Rick Tocchet left for greener pastures. He’s looking for answers for a group that could very well be too limited and thin to contend for a playoff spot.

New face in Vancouver

The biggest change with the Canucks since these teams played two weeks ago is the acquisition of Lukas Reichel for just a fourth-round pick. Reichel has had a topsy-turvy career since being selected 17th overall in 2020 by the Chicago Blackhawks. In limited work in 2022-23, the signs were positive. He collected 15 points in 23 games.
Since then, he’s failed to click consistently, but did have four points in five games before he was shipped to Vancouver.
“I think it’s our job as an organization and with our coaches and the development staff we have, to help him take his game to the next level,” general manager Patrick Allvin said. “He’s still young, so I believe there is more to come.”
They tested him out as their second-line center on Saturday. He played 14:54 but was minus-two.
Of course, we know this game is going to come down to Quinn Hughes and Thatcher Demko for the Canucks.
Winner of the Norris Trophy in 2024 and third in voting last year, Hughes has 1-6—7 playing 26:38 on average, the most of any skater in the NHL. If his shooting percentage returns to the same levels as the past two years, he could be right in the Norris mix again, doing it all for this Canucks squad.
Meanwhile, Demko did everything but score for his team on Oct. 11, stymying the Oilers time and time again and giving VAN a semblance of hope in a game they were mercilessly outchanced 19-7 in High Danger Scoring Chances.
He’s been awesome for this Canucks team, rocking a 2.24 goals against average and a .927 save percentage. Sprinkle in a guy fifth in Goals Saved Above Expected at 7.1, and you have a guy rounding into form after a tumultuous injury-riddled stretch.

Notes:

  • No Canucks forward has had more ice time than Evander Kane. What revenge could be at play for the former Oiler, who, near the end of the game, caught Alec Regula in the trolley tracks and sent him to the IR? Seems to me like a good Trent Frederic spot to endear himself more to Oilers faithful.
  • The Canucks Expected Goal Percentage is evidence of a team being a little more fortunate considering the types of chances they are generating. They are second-worst in that metric at 43.86% in all situations, only beating the Sharks. Not to mention their Expected Goal Differential, worst in the NHL at -4.79 at 5-on-5, and Goals Against Above Expected, also bottom in the NHL at 5-on-5. Not good.

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