The Bakersfield Condors Edmonton Oilers were in Vancouver on Thursday to square off against the Canucks in their third of four tune-up games of the pre-season. And despite the difference in every day NHLers in their respective lineups, the “Oilers” still found a way to not only compete hard but ultimately outclassed the Canucks en route to a 2-1 win. Two of the Oilers that I wanted to watch closest ended up being big parts of that result, so I put together a few thoughts on how Tristan Jarry and Isaac Howard played with only one tune-up game left to go.

Tristan Jarry got the start in Vancouver behind an Oilers lineup that had way more Bakersfield vibes than anything close to an opening-night vibes, so I wasn’t necessarily expecting the Oilers to win based on who they had going versus who was dressed for the Canucks. But even though no one should ever care about a pre-season result anyway, that was kind of the point for me. Forget the score and the win for a second. I wanted to see how Tristan Jarry handled traffic, how he looked moving around the crease, and whether he could settle into a game when the team in front of him was only there because none of the regulars were ever going to travel for this. And for a guy who’s trying to right the ship after a horrible first impression, maybe a 26-save, .962 save percentage night against NHL competition in a meaningless game isn’t the worst thing to happen for the guy. I mean, the Canucks ended up stinking as bad as you’d expect, but you understand my point.

And while nobody should give one rip about pre-season goalie stats, it was nice to see him play very well. Jarry will have a world of pressure on him once the dance starts for real, and maybe a few good vibes can carry over? Probably not, but we are in prime Kool-Aid szn after all. Jarry was anchor after he got here from Pittsburgh. You know it, and so do I. His .858 save percentage and 3.86 GAA post-trade is not something you can expect anyone to forget about in this city, and it’s going to take him stringing together some wins to start to shake that. The good news is that it’s the time to be bullish. Not that he can get much worse, but I’d bet all of Gregor’s money that he’s going to be better this season than he was the last. He doesn’t need to look like MVP Dominik Hasek out there, but he does need to look like a guy who can give the Oilers a chance every night. And even though last night’s start doesn’t mean anything, I did like that he looked very steady behind a Condors-heavy lineup.

Isaac Howard didn’t waste much time reminding everyone what the best tool in his set is, did he? At 3:58 of the first period, the Ice Man picked up a loose puck in the slot on a lucky bounce, and managed to snap it past the goalie like it was sitting perfectly on a tee even though it was still bobbling around when he shot. There’s never been any doubt about whether Howard can fire the pill, and last night’s goal was another chapter in that story, which gives him a real shot at an NHL job if he can find that type of touch with any kind of consistency. I know he hasn’t had a great pre-season, but Howard scored 24 goals in 47 games with Bakersfield last year, and his release is absolutely NHL quality. In my mind, the much harder question is whether he can do enough everywhere else on the ice when the goals aren’t popping for him.

Whether he can play some two-way hockey is going to be interesting with Howard to start this season because the opportunity is absolutely real. Based on the certain-to-change practice lines, Howard will probably get a look with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Zach Hyman on the second line. As much as he needs to be in the top-six if he’s ever going to be successful — he’s no checker and never will be — there is nowhere to hide in that spot in the lineup. While he’s definitely going get chances to use that shot of his, he’s also going to have to defend, support the puck, and show Mike Babcock he can be trusted in his own end. Two goals and three assists in 29 NHL games last year wasn’t what any of us were hoping for when he landed in Edmonton, but 50 points in 47 AHL games tells you there’s some finish there. Now the tricky part will be finding out if he can bring enough of the rest of his game with him.

Only one more pre-season game to slog through and then, thank the Gords, we can finally stop pretending any of this matters more than shaking off some rust. Even though the NHL halved the pre-season this year, I’m ready for the games to mean something again and September 29th against the Canucks cannot get here soon enough. All we need is for everybody to get through the last tune-up game on Saturday night, let Babcock squeeze in a few more practices, get the big dogs a few at-bats before parking them on the bench, and then drop the puck for real. It’s been a long summer since Anaheim bounced the Oilers in the first round, and I think I can speak for all of us when I say I’ve had enough of waiting around. My body is ready for this team to absolutely dictate my mood, and games on the schedule that actually count for something if the Oilers are going to win their first division title since 1987.

More than anything, I want to see this team actually start a season like the boys understand there’s no reason to piss away the month of October. We’ve watched enough slow starts around here to know how endlessly annoying it is when the Oilers spend the first month trying to wake themselves up while everyone else is already banking points. This group should be too good and too experienced for that by now. Nobody’s asking for 10 straight wins or some ridiculous heater out of the chute, but it’s absolutely fair to expect them to look ready, engaged, and a little pissed off about how last year ended after back-to-back Cup finals. Like I said, I’m ready for this team to derail my days again, and I’m getting excited now that the 2026-27 season is on deck. One more pre-season game, the RIPNation party, a few more sleeps, and then we get to find out what this version of the Oilers is actually made of. Even so, pre-season or not, it was wonderfully hilarious to watch the Condors-heavy Oilers beat the Canucks on home ice with so many of their regulars playing. Classic.

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