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Instant Reaction: Cotter plays hero in wild 6-5 OT win vs. Oilers on opening night
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Photo credit: Perry Nelson-Imagn Images
Tyson Cole
Sep 30, 2026, 01:03 EDTUpdated: Sep 30, 2026, 01:07 EDT
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Welcome back to Instant Reaction, the series here at CanucksArmy where we give you our instant reaction to tonight’s Vancouver Canucks game and ask our readers to do the same in the comments section below!

Starting lineup

First period

Well, this game started just about as expected, with the Edmonton Oilers controlling the game territorially. Jonathan Lekkerimäki failed to clear the zone along the boards near the blueline, but made up for it later by displaying some nice hand-eye coordination to knock the D-to-D pass out of the air and kill the Oilers’ pressure.
The first Canucks chance came over eight minutes into the game when Brock Boeser sent a pass off the glass from his own end to spring Liam Öhgren on a partial breakaway down the left-side boards. Öhgren ripped a shot that was fought off by the blocker of Tristan Jarry.
Tom Willander puts his team down a man after taking a holding penalty on Alex Formenton when the Canucks had the puck turning up ice. Not a great first penalty of the season to take.
The Oilers put on heavy pressure, including a scrum in the crease that saw Edmonton get multiple shots on Kevin Lankinen, but they couldn’t find the back of the net. Instead, it was the Canucks who capitalized on the Oilers’ power play.
Connor McDavid finds Leon Draisaitl for a cross-ice one-timer, with Lankinen coming out to make a blocker save that springs Paul Cotter and Arhsdeep Bains on a shorthanded two-on-one. With Evan Bouchard covering pass the whole way, Cotter decides to grip it and rip it from just inside the right circle, tucking it perfectly into the top right corner for the first Canucks goal of the season.
Feels like a good time to promote this conversation with Cotter, in which he shared that he chose Vancouver for the opportunity to play and further grow his defensive game. Well, that’s him capitalizing shorthanded. That decision is paying off already.
Per Sportsnet stats, Cotter’s goal was the seventh season-opening shorthanded goal in Canucks history. And he’s also the first player in Canucks history to score a shorthanded goal in his team debut.
1-0 Canucks.
Just as we were all starting to plan the Stanley Cup parade route, the Oilers found the equalizer seven minutes later.
Off the McDavid faceoff win, Bouchard collects the puck, skates to his strong side, buying time for Zach Hyman to set up in front of Lankinen, and fires a wrist shot that goes off the right post and in.
Lankinen puts his arm up after the goal, indicating he was interfered with. However, Manny Malhotra and the Canucks video coaches were not as convinced, and the puck dropped as a tie game.
1-1 Tie.
Less than 30 seconds later, the Oilers pressed the forecheck, which caused Elias Pettersson (D) to take a puck-over-glass penalty. However, this power play was not as chaotic as the Oilers’ first. Filip Hronek made a huge block on a Hyman shot, and Draisaitl hit the post, but otherwise the Oilers couldn’t muster a shot on goal on that man advantage. And we walked into the intermission tied at one.

Second period

The Oilers were hunting early for their first lead of the game. Lankinen continued to be a thorn in Edmonton’s side; however, it was Jamie Oleksiak who made the biggest save early on.
After that incredible defensive play, we potentially saw an even better offensive play from Öhgren.
Collecting the puck in the defensive zone, Öhgren spins and fires a laser of a pass to a streaking Marco Rossi, all alone on a breakaway. Rossi fires a quick snapshot from the hash marks on Jarry’s blocker side, who gets a piece of it, but not enough as the puck trickles across the goal line to give the Canucks back the lead again.
At the halfway point of the game, there really hasn’t been a clear standout among the skaters. The best player for the Canucks so far has been Lankinen; he clearly showed up ready for this game and has played well, keeping his team in the game.
Isn’t it funny how things happen sometimes? As I typed the sentence out above, the Canucks turned on the jets. For five minutes, the Canucks stacked offensive zone shifts on top of each other, putting pressure on the Oilers. There wasn’t a Grade A chance in there, but at least they spent some time in the offensive zone – something they struggled to do through the first 28 minutes of the game.
However, it was only a matter of time until Connor McDavid put his mark on the game. Now, it wasn’t a miraculous play. He just picked up the puck along the boards and shovelled a backhand pass to Bouchard in the slot for his second of the game.
The teams would, again, go into the break tied.

Third period

This time, the Canucks had the hot start to the period. Unlike the Oilers, however, the Canucks actually managed to capitalize.
After Kasperi Kapanen blew a tire accepting a pass, the Canucks head up ice. Jake DeBrusk sends a short pass up to Lekkerimäki, who skates it into the zone and fires a hard wrist shot that beats Jarry five-hole.
With a shot like Lekkerimäki’s, goalies have to respect it. But this is one Jarry definitely wants back.
3-2 Canucks.
Just over a minute later, the Canucks struck again.
A great defensive-zone swarm on McDavid by Zeev Buium, Drew O’Connor, and Linus Karlsson leads to a turnover, and the Canucks gain possession. O’Connor carries the puck through the neutral zone and sends the puck to the slot, knowing the speedy Sasson will win that race. Sasson makes a quick forehand, backhand deke and again slides one through Jarry’s five-hole.
4-2 Canucks.
But they weren’t done there. Mathieu Joseph took a high-sticking penalty on Hronek behind the Canucks net. And it took just 12 seconds for the Canucks to capitalize.
The Canucks win the faceoff, and Rossi finds Boeser down low. He passes it to Elias Pettersson in the slot, who shows off a nice touch to tip the pass back to Hronek at the point. Hronek winds up and fires a shot-pass back to Pettersson, who tips it by Jarry for the Canucks’ third goal in 4:05.
5-2 Canucks.
But the Oilers weren’t going to go away that easy, were they?
First, it was ex-Canuck Vasily Podkolzin, crashing the net, outmuscling Boeser at the net front, and wacking the puck past Lankinen.
5-3 Canucks.
Then, less than 30 seconds later, Bouchard fires a low-percentage shot toward the net with a defender all over him, beating a double-screened Lankinen.
5-4 Canucks.
Luckily for the Canucks, the Oilers lost a bit of their momentum as ice people cleared the hats off the ice. Unfortunately, Sasson took a cross-checking penalty soon after, giving the Oilers the momentum back and a chance to tie it up for the third time in this game.
The Oilers were dangerous as always, but the Canucks did a great job on the penalty kill, coming up with multiple clearings with the top unit out there.
Kapanen, looking to redeem himself after the Canucks’ third goal, came flying into the zone and sped past the Canucks defenders. He fired a shot five-hole, but Lankinen got just enough of it for the puck to trickle wide.
Draisaitl nearly tied the game with an odd-angle tip that hit the post and went off Lankinen’s back toward the net. In straight desperation mode, the Finnish netminder whipped his arm back and got enough to knock the puck away before it flew across the goal line – a save-of-the-year candidate on night one of the NHL season.
Unfortunately for Kapanen, he put his team at yet another deficit by taking a high-sticking penalty with under four minutes to go. The Canucks played fairly conservatively, deploying two defencemen on both units.
Late in the Canucks power play, Karlsson gets called for a slashing penalty. However, the replay shows that when Mattias Ekholm takes Karlsson down, he breaks his stick. Karlsson then taps Ekholm’s stick, yet still gets the call. And a familiar face got his vengeance on his former team for the second time in the period, firing a bullet into the top right corner.
Off to overtime we go.

Overtime

Despite having to take on McDavid and Draisaitl in a three-on-three situation, the Canucks actually had the better chances of the two teams.
Buium had a chance all alone, but Jarry robbed him with the glove. Buium gets another chance, but fires the extra pass to Rossi at the net front, which Jarry poke-checks away.
But then Paul Cotter’s fantastic individual effort on the forecheck is what sends the Oilers fans home displeased on opening night of the 2026-27 season.
6-5 Canucks Final.
What. A. Game.
What’s your instant reaction to tonight’s game? Let us know in the comments section below!
Check out our postgame show, RinkWide Vancouver, for instant analysis of tonight’s game!
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