Preseason game four of six for the Vancouver Canucks took place at Rogers Place in Edmonton tonight. It was a somewhat lopsided matchup, as Vancouver only sent a handful of veterans among NHL hopefuls, while Edmonton iced a stacked roster highlighted by Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. That reflected in the final score. Anyway, let’s get into the game.
First period
Well, it didn’t take long for McDavid and Draisaitl to get on the board in this matchup. On his first shift of the game, the two Oilers stars got to work in the offensive zone.
Draisaitl finds McDavid on the halfwall. Derek Forbort takes a wrong pivot, which gives McDavid time and space to head toward the net and sends the puck into all the commotion at the net front. Draisaitl gets a weak shot on net and gets his own rebound. He misses the net, but it was a perfect miss as McDavid gets possession and is able to sneak it under Thatcher Demko at the side of the net.
But then, it was McDavid’s turn to hit the ice, and he got on the board again.
Max Sasson had a good stick to tip the puck off McDavid and clear the zone. But it didn’t take long for the Oilers to regain the zone and get to work.
Draisaitl carries the puck into the zone and finds McDavid with speed. He walks into the slot and rips a shot off Demko’s pads, but he’s unable to corral the rebound, leaving a sitter for Trent Frederic to tap home on his second attempt.
It was unfortunate that Demko let this one in, as he was making some remarkable saves up until that point.
A little later on, the young standout Braeden Cootes showed up with an impressive rush.
Cootes carries the puck through the neutral zone, takes the contact along the boards, and is able to find O’Connor as the trailing while losing his balance. The puck goes behind the net, where O’Connor and Alec Regula battle for the puck along the boards. Cootes comes from behind the net in support and grabs the loose puck. The 18-year-old makes two stick moves to protect the puck from opposing poke checks and finds Jonathan Lekkerimäki in the faceoff circle.
The kid continues to make impressive plays that the coaching staff can’t help but notice at this point.
Aatu Räty gets tripped by Evan Bouchard to send the Canucks to the power play. However, that was short-lived, as Chytil takes a tripping penalty of his own, negating the power play eight seconds in.
But it just so happened to work out for Chytil, as after the penalty, Chytil takes the stretch pass from Joseph to spring him on a mini breakaway. His backhand, forehand attempt was not good enough to beat Skinner.
Second period
Two minutes into the second period, the Oilers get called for a too-many-men penalty. The Canucks split the man advantage evenly, sending Chytil, Lekkerimäki, Sherwood, Aatu Räty and Filip Hronek out for the first half and Cootes, Linus Karlsson, Max Sasson, Arshdeep Bains and Kirill Kudryavtsev on the second unit. The best chance came off a cross-ice pass from Cootes to Bains; however, Bains fanned on the one-touch pass to Karlsson at the net front, and the Oilers cleared the zone.
At the tail end of the power play, Sasson got a lucky bounce, as the puck went off the Oilers defenceman’s stick and straight to him at the net front. With that defender diving toward him, Sasson thinks fast and lifts a backhand shot over Skinner, but it hits the crossbar.
Third period
Thatcher Demko led the Canucks out for the third period – something he didn’t do in his first preseason game. The Canucks wanted to give their starting goaltender some support, coming out with a mission to get back into this game.
Räty got the Canucks on the board four minutes into the game, with a lot to like on the play.
Lekkerimäki intercepts the outlet pass to keep the Canucks in the offensive zone. Hronek steps up on the Oilers winger and jumps in front to allow Räty to pick up the loose puck. He loads up a wicked wrister from the right faceoff dot and fires it up-high, short-side on Skinner to get the Canucks on the board.
3-1 Oilers.
Just moments after the goal, the Canucks were back on the attack. O’Connor took the puck hard to the net, with his attempt sliding wide. Cootes picks up the loose puck in the corner, sending it back to Forbort. He goes D-to-D, with Hronek finding Cootes’ back-pedalling in the left hand circle.
Without looking, Cootes fires the puck to the front of the net for O’Connor, but he couldn’t connect. Instead, it deflects off Mattias Ekholm’s skate and past Skinner to put the Canucks within one just 43 seconds after their first tally.
4-2 Oilers.
With nothing to lose, the Canucks got aggressive and pulled their goalie with over four minutes remaining.
The Canucks demonstrated solid, crisp passes around the edges of the neutral zone before anything finally opened up. Hronek finds Chytil on the right half wall. It looks like he’s about to rip a shot, but he fires a cross-ice pass to Lekkerimäki, who’s wide open in the left faceoff dot, and fires a one-timer past Skinner to bring the Canucks back to within one.
4-3 Oilers.
Despite their best efforts, Vancouver couldn’t tie the game.
Takeaways
– Drew O’Connor was noticeable tonight – something you don’t say every night. He always seemed to be in the right area in the offensive zone and was good along the walls to help free the puck for his linemates, despite not finding his way onto the scoresheet.
– Jonathan Lekkerimäki looked good for the second consecutive game. His newfound ability to use his body to protect the puck has opened up so much more for him in the offensive zone.
– Braeden Cootes continues to do the little things right. For being much smaller than the competition he plays against, he’s great against the wall and in tight spaces to get the puck out of danger and to his teammates.
What’s your instant reaction to tonight’s game, Canucks fans?