Brock Boeser had four goals as the Vancouver Canucks throttled the Edmonton Oilers 8-1 Wednesday night. It was the regular season opener for both teams.
“We laid an egg tonight”, head coach Jay Woodcroft said, laying into his players after the game.
“The bottom line is we were at a pre-season level of work ethic, and a pre-season level of execution. To a man, every single one of us, not good enough.”
The Oilers had some early pressure but the Canucks took the lead 8:06 into the game when Conor Garland beat Jack Campbell from in tight. Less than four minutes later, Boeser fired a shot past Campbell’s glove to make it 2-0.
Boeser scored again four minutes into the second, tapping a puck out of the air. He converted the hat trick with 12:30 left in the second when a pass in front went in off his ankle on the power play. Campbell was replaced in net by Stuart Skinner after allowing four goals on 16 shots.
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“You’re still ironing out kinks, but I think we’re all smart enough in this room to be able to adapt and play better in our own zone,” Oilers defenceman Darnell Nurse said.
The Oilers finally broke through on the power play with 11:40 to go in the second. Leon Draisaitl fired a sharp angle one-timer behind Thatcher Demko. However, Elias Petterson provided a quick reply on a Canucks man advantage.
Boeser scored on a rebound in the third. J.T. Miller beat Skinner on a power play to make it 7-1. Dakota Joshua added one more with five minutes left.
Miller had a goal and four assists.
Skinner stopped 12 of 16 shots.
“We have better, we know it. We got a chance to work at our game and get another crack at (Vancouver) on Saturday”, Woodcroft said.
The two teams will meet again on Saturday, this time at Rogers Place. You can listen to the game live on 630 CHED, beginning with The Faceoff Show at 6:30 p.m. The actual game starts at 8 p.m.
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