Connor McDavid scored 55 seconds into overtime to give the Edmonton Oilers a 2-1 pre-season win over the Vancouver Canucks Wednesday night at Rogers Place.
The Oilers carried the play in the first period, but despite outshooting the Canucks 10-3, they couldn’t get a puck past Canucks goaltender Casey DeSmith.
“The majority of focus in our training camp has been on the defensive side of things and we’re seeing some positive results,” Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft said post-game.
Vancouver defenceman Quinn Hughes opened the scoring halfway through the second. His power-play point shot went off Evan Bouchard’s leg and past Oilers netminder Stuart Skinner.
“It took a little while for the game to get going. I had three shots in 30 minutes, so it took me a little while,” Skinner said after the game.
“After they got some shots, I started to get the feel for the puck and started to feel a lot better.”
Skinner came up big against Teddy Blueger twice early in the third. He denied Blueger on a shorthanded breakaway, then stoned him on a wrister from the slot.
“(I) didn’t love the fact that we were in the box as much as we were tonight, but I thought the penalty kill dug in,” Woodcroft said.
“I didn’t see a lot of polish offensively, but in the end, we found a way to score enough to win the game.”
In overtime, Bouchard fired a sharp pass to McDavid, sending him in alone. He went to the backhand to end the game.
“The first day I got here I was pretty shocked,” defenceman Ben Gleason said of the Oilers captain. “It’s fun to see him on the ice and just giving him a little pass and he skates down the whole ice and scores a goal at the end and the whole crowd erupts — it’s pretty cool to see.”
The Oilers will play in Calgary on Friday. You can listen to the game live on 630 CHED, beginning with The Faceoff Show at 5:30 p.m. The actual game starts at 7 p.m.