October 3, 2022 by Ryan Lotsberg

The Oilers put the boots to a watered down version of the Canucks at Rogers Place tonight. The Oilers won 7-2, but it was an unexpected group leading the charge offensively.

Call Outs:

Jake Virtanen took a bad penalty early in the game when he got turned around while caught standing still. He went down to a knee, swung his stick around, and took a tripping penalty. He bobbled a great cross ice pass from McDavid and gave the puck away in the second period. He had a miscommunication with Evan Bouchard early in the third period where he passed the puck across the ice to Bouchard then made a loop towards him. Bouchard gave him a return pass as he turned up ice, and he didn’t see it coming. He totally missed it. He slightly redeemed himself by serving up a saucer pass to Warren Foegele on his first goal.

Virtanen’s penalty was the first of four in a row called against the Oilers. The next three were taken by Leon Draisaitl, Evander Kane, and Zach Hyman. Penalties happen, but they can’t happen in such rapid succession, especially if it’s three of the team’s top players taking those penalties.

Cody Ceci had a puck deflect in off of him in his first game of the preseason. He also delivered a pass with a little bit too much weight in the third period. He tried to pass Jack Campbell’s stick to him, but he passed it too hard for Campbell and put it out of reach. Ceci and Campbell laughed it off. These are minor transgressions, but I had to have something to put here tonight. 

Stand Outs:

This was Dylan Holloway’s night. The rookie-to-be made good on his opportunity to play in the top six by scoring a hat-trick! He scored a tip in goal in the first period, he sniped a highlight reel goal short side after cutting in on the left wing in the second period and he scooped up a loose puck behind the net and walked out front and ripped it home. He earned an assist after feeding Hyman on the left wing and driving hard to the net on Tyson Barrie’s goal. The best part about Holloway’s offensive performance was that he didn’t rely on Draisaitl and Hyman to get his goals. He used his speed and went to the dirty areas.

He pasted a Canuck into the boards in the neutral zone off the opening faceoff of the third period. He was a consistent presence in front of the Canucks net. Vancouver sent a weak roster to Edmonton for this game, but the Oilers had the vast majority of their NHL team dressed and Holloway was the best one of them all. Write his name on the roster in pen.

Shout Outs:

Foegele was quiet until late in the third period where he scored two goals on the same shift. He buried the pass from Virtanen on the two-on-one, and he walked off the right half wall and ripped a wrist shot into the top corner. He looked like a pure goal scorer on that shift!

Aside from the penalty, Hyman had a strong night. He scored a powerplay goal on a back door feed from McDavid. He made a nice pass to Barrie trailing the play to get an assist, his first of two in the night. He also had a short-handed breakaway thanks to a pass from Holloway.

Devin Shore quietly had three assists. He will make Jay Woodcroft’s decisions at the bottom of the roster more difficult after that performance.

Jack Campbell was solid tonight. His night was highlighted by a sliding cross crease glove save which took a sure goal away from Connor Garland.

Dmirtri Samorukov acquitted himself well tonight. He got an assist on Foegele’s second goal. He had a steady game with no mistakes, which was important for him given that he’s trying to make it as a depth defenceman.

Finally, Tyler Benson continued his strong physical play tonight. Notably, he left the game late in the second period. That will be a situation to keep an eye on because he is squarely in the mix to make the team.

The Oilers will take on the Canucks again in Abbotsford on Wednesday.