October 13, 2022 by Ryan Lotsberg

We can’t say that the Edmonton Oilers didn’t put on a show in their home opener. The Oilers scored five unanswered goals to beat the Vancouver Canucks 5-3 at Rogers Place.

Here are your Call Outs, Standouts, and Shout Outs from opening night.

Call Outs:

It was a tough NHL regular season debut for Dylan Holloway. His stint on the second line only lasted fifty eight seconds. He corralled a bouncing puck in his own zone and turned up ice with it. He saw Leon Draisaitl looping towards him at the Oilers blueline. Holloway attempted to force the puck to Draisaitl in a bad spot, and Elias Pettersson stole it and scored on the play. That was a case of a young kid with some confidence after a strong preseason trying to force a pass to a star player when he should’ve made a simpler play up the boards. He settled in nicely after that play on a line with Ryan McLeod and Derek Ryan. I love the speed of the Holloway and McLeod combination. They should stay together on the third line for the time being.

Brett Kulak also had a tough night. He engaged with Andrei Kuzmenko high in the zone on a Canucks powerplay and lost track of him on the way to the net. Kuzmenko snuck by Kulak and got a tap in goal. Kulak and partner Tyson Barrie were outshot 11-0 in five-on-five play, yet they surprisingly were not on the ice for a goal against at even strength.

Jesse Puljujarvi had a quiet night. One thing I’m watching with him is how his hands are in front of the net. He needs to learn to elevate the puck in tight. Zach Hyman fed him a great pass that he couldn’t get over Thatcher Demko’s pad on two tries. I’m being hard on Puljujarvi for not burying a scoring chance, but scoring more goals in tight is how he will improve his goal totals and get the media off his back. He also took an offensive zone holding penalty.

Team discipline was an issue in the preseason, and that didn’t change on Wednesday. The Oilers took eight penalties. Connor McDavid took two penalties; and Draisaitl, Puljujarvi, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Evander Kane, and Darnell Nurse took one each. Nurse’s penalty was undisciplined. He hit a player late as the buzzer sounded to end the first period. The team was already down 2-0 and the Canucks scored on that powerplay. It’s a star-studded list that took the penalties for the Oilers, much like it was in the preseason. That can’t continue.

Standouts:

The hats flew onto the ice late in the third period after Kane dropped the puck to McDavid for an empty netter. McDavid finished off a tremendous passing play where all five Oilers touched the puck in a three second span. He deposited his own rebound to score the go-ahead goal late in the game, and he sealed it with the empty netter. His two penalties were his only blemishes on the night.

Draisaitl scored a powerplay goal that probably shouldn’t have been allowed to happen because of a missed high sticking call. He was involved in the aforementioned quick passing play that led to McDavid’s first goal. He also set up Nurse for a huge short-handed goal at the end of the second period.

Shout Outs:

The pairing of Ryan Murray and Evan Bouchard was excellent tonight. They outshot the Canucks 7-4 at five-on-five. They won the scoring chance battle 9-5. They were outscored 1-0, but they were on the ice for the Pettersson goal after the Holloway giveaway. That wasn’t their fault. Murray had a glorious chance off a pass from Holloway where he played it through his own legs and nearly scored on a backhand shot. Bouchard had a couple of dangerous chances after joining the rush late and getting quality looks. This is a mobile pairing that can get the puck up the ice in a hurry, and they can both contribute to creating chances in the offensive zone.

The Oilers went back to the old recipe for this win. They relied on a hat trick from McDavid and a three point night from Draisaitl to power the offence. They relied on their special teams to lead the charge. They scored two powerplay goals and a short-handed goal. The only even strength goal came from McDavid. They will need to figure out how to create offence at even strength if they want to contend for a Stanley Cup this season.

Jay Woodcroft went to the line blender early and often in this game. The Holloway-Draisaitl-Hyman line was broken apart after one shift. Draisaitl spent the rest of the night with McDavid. Draisaitl and McDavid both took turns double shifting with Brad Malone and Devin Shore at times. Kane joined them on the top line for most of the night, but Hyman eventually replaced him there and Hyman got an assist on McDavid’s game winning goal. The Oilers are much better equipped to play McDavid and Draisaitl together now than they have ever been because of their depth.

Nugent-Hopkins played second line centre with Puljujarvi on his right side. Hyman joined them before he got moved up to the top line. Kane took his place on the second line. I like Nugent-Hopkins as a second line centre. I still think Draisaitl should be the right winger on that line, but giving Nugent-Hopkins one of Kane or Hyman should result in a second line that can produce.

As noted earlier, the third line became Holloway-McLeod-Ryan. I think that Holloway and McLeod will work well together. Their speed is a lot to handle. They created a couple of chances tonight, and I believe that they will figure out how to contribute if they stay together. Ryan looked fine there too, but the line would be better with Kailer Yamamoto there once he returns.

This game is a good reminder that we shouldn’t get too worked up about line combinations in training camp or at the start of the first game. Things can change in an instant. We’ll see what Woodcroft comes up with for Saturday’s battle of Alberta.