“Is that Rocket Richard?”

That was the question I heard Drew O’Connor ask (a couple of times) during a brief chat I had with Paul Cotter in the visitors’ locker room on Tuesday night.

Cotter, who has a Stanley Cup ring as a member of the Vegas Golden Knights, won’t soon forget his Vancouver Canucks debut, as his two-goal performance helped spoil the Edmonton Oilers’ home opener.

Cotter opened the scoring with a shorthanded goal, and he also closed the scoring as well. After some relentless pressure on the forecheck in 3-on-3 overtime, Cotter knocked the puck loose off of Oilers defenceman Ryan Shea, and made a beeline towards the net as Max Sasson found him with a perfect behind-the-back pass. Cotter deked to his backhand and roofed a shot over Tristan Jarry to cap off as perfect a Canucks debut as we’ve seen from a player in quite some time.

Post game, Canucks head coach Manny Malhotra was very complimentary of Cotter’s game, and praised the 26-year-old’s resilience as the Canucks’ bench was shortened while they tried (and failed) to protect a three-goal lead in the third period.

“Big night for him, really excited for him,” Malhotra said. “He did a lot of really good things. Obviously, a shorthanded goal and an OT winner, two pretty big moments for him. But just the fact that he had limited minutes and their line jumped a couple shifts and didn’t get too much ice in the third… but his ability to stay composed and stay ready on the bench speaks a lot about his character.”

Cotter signed a one-year contract worth $2.15 million with the Canucks this past offseason, citing the chance to play in bigger moments as a big reason why. We’d certainly call 3v3 overtime on opening night a “big moment.”

“It’s just growing into stuff; being able to have the ability to grow is the biggest thing that I’m looking for,” Cotter told Daily Faceoff Vancouver earlier this week. “You know, I don’t need to be on power play one, line one centre, and do everything from day one, but that’s something that I’m chasing, and it’s something that everyone’s chasing in this room: more ice time, more trust. I think for me I haven’t necessarily gotten to that level where I’m put in those situations consistently. Obviously, there’s times where I’ve been in there in Vegas and New Jersey, but it’s not a consistent opportunity that I’ve been given.

“Here, there’s opportunity for me to grow; power play, penalty kill – got some reps the past couple of games, which has been good – little things, four-on-four, playing first line, second line. It’s more so just minutes. I mean, the hard minutes, right? Goalie’s pulled, you want to be out there to defend. On the opposing side, if we need a goal, you want to be one of the guys that’s going to be out there. So, those are the things that I’m gunning for that I don’t think that I’ve showed this league necessarily all the things that I can do. And here, I think I have the ability to show that.”

Cotter has opened the season as both the Canucks’ fourth-line centre, and after Tuesday night, their leading goal scorer as well in just 11:51 of ice time. He’ll look to build on that and keep earning his new coach’s trust Thursday night when the Canucks take on the same Oilers squad they just beat, this time at Rogers Arena in Vancouver for the Canucks’ home opener.