Is there anything better than watching our beloved Oilers take on a divisional rival like the Canucks? Usually, I’d say no, there’s nothing better than this, but since we’re talking about an exhibition game, it meant the expected fireworks between these clubs were non-existent. The good news is that the Oilers won by a 3-2 final score. The bad news is that it took until a shootout to get there.
Our collective pre-season boredom continued Monday as the Oilers took on the Canucks for their fifth of eight tune-up matches before the 2024-25 campaign kicks off for real. With the Oilers trimming the roster down over the last few days, what we saw at Rogers Place looked a shade closer to what we’ll get for the first regular season meeting on November 9th. The intensity wasn’t anywhere close to where we needed it to be, but at least we saw some of our heroes wearing our favourite clothes. In the meantime, this was also the first time these two teams had seen each other since our beloved Oilers knocked Vancouver out of the playoffs in Game 7 of the second round.
Even though we’re talking about the pre-season, that doesn’t mean it’s not still fun to trigger their fanbase with reminders of how their last season ended. If you want to see some Olympic-level mental gymnastics, mention how Vancouver lost to Edmonton, and it’s enough to push some of them over the edge. And since what was happening on the ice was boring enough to lull a person to sleep, I was having a good time reading all of the woulda, coulda, shouldas that were happening on social media. If you’re ever looking for fan fiction where the Oilers didn’t actually win their series against Vancouver, there is plenty of it coming out of the 6-0-4 code.
As for the game I was half-heartedly watching, it was as boring as it was uneventful. Even with some of our big dogs in the lineup, it’s hard to think of many moments beyond the Corey Perry and Ben Gleason goals that gave the crowd a reason to cheer. Outside of the 3-on-3 overtime period and hearing La Bamba play, the game had hardly any flow and was essentially the hockey equivalent of dry toast. Can you picture it? Toasted bread with absolutely nothing on it? Something to eat but not at all satisfying? You with me? This game was that, and I know you know what I mean.
OTHER THINGS WORTH MENTIONING…
- Arshdeep Bains opened the scoring (1-0) on the power play goal with a snipe under the bar after the Oilers got caught by some effective puck movement in their own zone, culminating in a clean look from a key scoring area.
- Corey Perry tied the game (1-1) on a slick little move down low that saw him dangle a Canucks defender low in the circle before walking the puck past an outstretched Lankinen.
- Ben Gleason gave the Oilers the lead (2-1) on the power play with a sneaky wrister from the high slot that made its way through a few bodies and past Lankinen on the glove-hand side.
- Edmonton’s lead didn’t last long, though, as Nate Smith tied the game (2-2) only 19 seconds after Viktor Arvidsson gave the home side the lead. The Oilers basically gifted Vancouver entry into their zone, and once they were there, it really didn’t take long until the puck wound up in the back of the net.
- Viktor Arvidsson will score a pile of goals beside Leon Draisaitl just by being ready to shoot. The Oilers got a power play midway through the first period, and it was almost unlucky that Arvidsson didn’t score on the one-timer chance Leon set him up with right in the slot. He got a lot of wood on that puck, and it got me thinking about how much I like the idea of Draisaitl actually having two quality linemates for once. Even though he didn’t score until the shootout, Arvidsson had a few looks that could have very easily ended up as goals.
- As for the other linemate, I thought Jeff Skinner was extremely quiet. Even though none of us are expecting masterpieces at this point, it would be nice if a guy whose been a sniper over the course of his career looked even the slightest bit engaged. He had an opportunity to end the game in OT, but outside of that one shift, I hardly noticed him.
- Stuart Skinner was back between the pipes for the first time since getting lit up in Winnipeg. The big difference, of course, is that he had more than a small handful of NHL-calibre players skating in front of him. Unfortunately, as it turns out, the team in front of him wasn’t much interested in playing all that hard. Skinner had to make some big saves as a result, and even though he only faced 23 shots — he stopped 21 for a .913 save% — more than a few of his saves were from price shooting locations.
- Troy Stecher should get a spot on the right side simply because he moves the puck way more effectively than any of the other options. I know it’s only the pre-season, but Stecher’s puck-moving abilities were on full display throughout the game, and I really appreciated the way he’s able to quickly move the play up ice.
- Josh Brown will be a friction point for a lot of us this year, won’t he?
- Speaking of tall defencemen… I love you, Vinny Desharnais, but you’re an enemy now, which means I’m forced to hate you. Way she goes, pal.
- Tyler and Liam may not like the Janmark, Henrique, Brown trio, but I still do. I think that line is going to be the best shutdown line this franchise has had in quite some time.
- Want to hear about the special teams? I thought you’d never ask. The Oilers went 1/3 on the power play, while the PK allowed one goal on four shorthanded situations.
- Another pre-season game means another bullet point where I tell you the Oilers won 59.3% of the faceoffs.
- Wasn’t it so much better having the game on TV instead of streaming on your laptop/tablet/whatever? Of course it was.
