Bains – Pettersson – Boeser
DeBrusk – Cotter – Lekkerimäki
Öhgren – Rossi – Gallagher
O’Connor – Sasson – Karlsson

Buium – Hronek
Oleksiak – Brisebois
Pettersson again – Schenn

Arshdeep Bains to the first line. Zeev Buium up to the first pair with Filip Hronek, Luke Schenn back in, Mancini out. Tom Willander still out (and boy does this team miss him).

Meriläinen starts.

The first five minutes of this game felt like the Oilers showing about 30% of what they’re capable of, and the Canucks trying to break the puck out cleanly, only to flip it in and go for a line change, allowing the Oilers to get started again.

It wasn’t until just under nine minutes in that the Canucks got their first shot on goal. Though they limited the Oilers and did an okay job of possessing the puck, they struggled to turn that into tangible offence.

Shortly after that first Canucks shot, the Oilers opened the scoring.

On this play, three Canucks get mesmerized by Connor McDavid and go toward him, allowing Mattias Ekholm to go undetected as he moved closer to Meriläinen. McDavid, of course, knew exactly where Ekholm was, and found him with a perfect cross-crease feed.

There’s been some questioning about “Manny Malhotra’s system” as of late, and I just want to take this chance to promise you that Malhotra’s system doesn’t call for three players to swarm the puck carrier on this play. That’s a tough look for Arshdeep Bains on that goal. If you want to actually understand what Malhotra is asking his players to do in the defensive end, you can read our deep dive into Malhotra’s systems by clicking here.

Just a few minutes after the goal, Brendan Gallagher took a goaltender interference penalty, giving the Oilers their first chance of the night to work on the man advantage. The Oilers managed to get some quality looks off on Meriläinen, but the Canucks’ goaltender was up to the task, as he was tested a couple of times by Leon Draisaitl.

The Canucks waited until the final minute and a half of the opening period, but turned in three shifts (in a row!) where they spent the majority of the time in the Oilers’ end and actually managed to get some shot attempts off on Levi. That strong finish paid off, as Linus Karlsson won a puck battle against Ryan Nugent-Hopkins before kickstarting a zone entry that ended with a Jamie Oleksiak slapper from the point, deflected home by Max Sasson to put the Canucks on the board with nine seconds left in the period.

Some takeaways from the first:
-Liked Zeev Buium’s game in that opening 20. Transporting the puck well, boxing out well, good stuff from the youngster in the opening frame.
-Max Sasson is one goal off the team lead.
-Canucks couldn’t get much going for about 18 and a half minutes, but boy did that make that final minute and a half count.
-Guillaume Brisebois picks up his first point since 2023. Fourth of his NHL career.

The Canucks started the second with some decent jump, and did well to pressure the Oilers into mistakes through the neutral zone. They nearly caught the Oilers off guard after Luke Schenn made a phenomenal breakout pass to Drew O’Connor, who found Linus Karlsson for a breakaway chance, but Devon Levi flashed the leather to stone Karlsson.

Regardless, though, the Canucks’ start to the second was much better than anything we saw from them for the first 18-or-so minutes of the first period.

The Canucks were called for too many men on the ice five minutes into the period, giving the Oilers their second PP chance of the game and a golden opportunity to swing the momentum back in their favour. A little less than a minute in, after the Canucks did a good job of keeping the Oilers from getting anything going on the PP, Leon Draisaitl was called for steamrolling Elias Pettersson in the neutral zone to put the two sides at 4-on-4.

With the Canucks having over a minute of power play time to work with, Elias Pettersson, the forward, did a good job of stickhandling through a few Oilers PKers to drive a shot on Levi. The rebound came loose to Jonathan Lekkerimäki, who seemed to have a wide-open net to shoot at, but his shot attempt didn’t make it on goal.

All in all, it was a pretty uneventful second period, and the Canucks were more than happy about that. They more than held their own, too.

This one was still tied after 40 minutes.

Some takeaways from the second:
-Felt like the Canucks were winning a lot of puck battles in that period, and they were playing with more poise and speed than the Oilers were. I thought it was a much better showing in the second than the first.
-Another thing the Canucks deserve credit for: Boxing out in front of Meriläinen. When Malhotra talks about effort-based mistakes, that is often one of the things he’s talking about, and it hasn’t just been the young guys who have been guilty of it, either. Thought that was a bright spot for the Canucks in the second.
-For all the systems watchers, the Canucks’ defensive zone breakout strategy seemed to be working to perfection in this period.

In the first minute of the third, Jason Dickinson scored as the Oilers did well to get bodies to the net and cause chaos in front of Meriläinen.

The Canucks tried to respond, but just as the first line appeared to be getting something going, Arshdeep Bains (who, again, was on the first line tonight) was called for holding Mattias Ekholm, putting the Oilers back on the power play.

Now, on their last two penalty kill opportunities, the Canucks did a pretty good job of limiting the Oilers’ ability to get cross-seam passes through. But when you have as many weapons as the Oilers do, it becomes hard to keep that up because you have so many different threats to worry about and pay respect to. And eventually, Draisaitl scored a goal from the spot you’ve seen him score goals from plenty of times before.

After a couple of otherworldly saves from Meriläinen kept them within two, the Canucks got a power play chance of their own with just over ten minutes left. On this power play, Zeev Buium looked great as a quarterback and puck distributor, but that’s about as much as we can write about that.

The Canucks pulled their goaltender with 4:05 remaining. Elias Pettersson won the faceoff, then knocked down McDavid’s clearing attempt, which allowed the Canucks to keep pushing. And after cycling it around and setting up Jonathan Lekkerimäki for a couple of shots, Filip Hronek blasted a point shot that Brock Boeser deflected in the high slot to bring the Canucks within one.

Manny Malhotra chose to put Meriläinen back in, and I thought that was a great strategu while his “big dogs” rested up with over two minutes remaining and the Canucks needing just one more goal to tie things up.

Eventually, the Canucks pulled their goaltender again, and after a completely botched icing call forced the Canucks back into their own end for a defensive zone faceoff, the Oilers finished this one off as Draisaitl scored the empty netter to make it 4-2.

Some takeaways from the third:
-I know complaining about officiating is lame, but I felt very vindicated when Leon Draisaitl’s multiple taps onto Zeev Buium’s gloves went uncalled. That is, of course, because my take on Liam Öhgren’s penalty against the Anaheim Ducks was that, yes, by the letter of the law, it’s a penalty, but “if it were Connor McDavid instead of Öhgren, that’s not a call and is instead on every highlight reel for the next month.”
-Brock Boeser is so good at that tip in the slot.
-Kept it close against a top team in the league. Fun one, good effort, and a good bounce back after a tough game in Winnipeg on Thursday.
-Solid start for Meriläinen.

What’s your instant reaction to tonight’s game? Let us know in the comments section below! And be sure to tune into Rink Wide Vancouver LIVE after the game on the Daily Faceoff Vancouver YouTube channel. Check out our live programming button in the top right of our website for easy access!