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Scenes from morning skate: Canucks rolling with winning lineup for home-opening rematch vs. Oilers

Photo credit: Perry Nelson-Imagn Images

By Jeff Paterson

Oct 1, 2026, 15:16 EDT

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The Vancouver Canucks (1-0) play their first home game of the new National Hockey League season tonight, hosting the Edmonton Oilers (0-0-1) at Rogers Arena. The game begins at 7 pm PT.

It’s a rematch of Tuesday’s thrilling 6-5 Canucks victory in Edmonton.

What we saw

Jeff Paterson

@patersonjeff

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#Canucks this morning DeBrusk-EP40-Lekkerimäki Öhgren-Rossi-Boeser O’Connor-Sasson-Karlsson Bains-Cotter-Gallagher Buium-Hronek Oleksiak-Willander DPetey-Schenn

5:37 PM · Oct 1, 2026

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After a team day off Wednesday, it was all hands on deck for morning skate. Based on line rushes, Manny Malhotra appears to be going with the same lineup that produced Tuesday’s victory. The coach, however, would not confirm his lineup when asked at his morning media availability.

Look for Max Sasson to draw the Connor McDavid matchup for a second straight game. With the benefit of last change as the home team, it will be interesting to see how Malhotra handles his deployment decisions tonight. McDavid had a pair of assists in a losing cause but did not register a shot on goal.

Paul Cotter opened the scoring on Tuesday and then closed it out with his overtime winner. It was the sixth time in his NHL career that he has scored twice in a game. Marco Rossi, Jonathan Lekkerimäki, Elias Pettersson and Max Sasson scored the team’s other goals as all four of the centres dressed on Tuesday found the back of the net.

Kevin Lankinen is expected to get the start in goal tonight. Despite giving up five goals, he was sharp early and wound up making 32 saves on the night.

The Canucks know they have to improve on home ice this season after going 9-27-5 and getting outscored 158-100 in 41 games at Rogers Arena last season.

Jeff Paterson

@patersonjeff

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OT hero Paul Cotter breaking in black pants and gloves at #Canucks morning skate. Rest of team in blue

5:30 PM · Oct 1, 2026

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A couple of newcomers used morning skate to break in new black gear. The Canucks will wear blue on opening night but are expected to roll out their black skate jersey as early as this weekend. So Paul Cotter wore black pants and black gloves this morning while Brendan Gallagher used black gloves at today’s skate. And new netminder Leevi Meriläinen took to the ice in Canuck-coloured gear, but still has an Ottawa Senators mask.

The Opponent

Bob Stauffer

@Bob_Stauffer

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The @EdmontonOilers morning skate in Vancouver: Podkolzin-McDavid-Draisaitl Jones-Dach-Kapanen Formenton-Michaels-Joseph Howard-Samanski-Frederic Ekholm-Bouchard Shea-Murphy Walman-Mukhamadullin Levi (Zach Hyman not on trip. Mike Babcock will update after practice)

6:31 PM · Oct 1, 2026

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Mike Babcock will make a couple of changes to the Oilers lineup for tonight. Veteran winger Zach Hyman is not with the team on the trip so will miss the game. He is expected to be out for a couple of weeks. Hyman logged 20:33 of ice time on opening night.

And perhaps no surprise, Devon Levi gets the start in net after Tristan Jarry allowed six goals on just 23 shots.

Evan Bouchard became the first defenceman in NHL history to register five points on opening night. He scored three of Edmonton’s goals and assisted on a pair of markers from former Canuck Vasily Podkolzin. Bouchard led all skaters in ice with 25:41.

With Hyman out, Josh Samanski has been recalled from the minors. He will slide in at centre on Edmonton’s fourth line.

After tonight, the Oilers return home for a Saturday showdown with the Seattle Kraken.

News and notes

The game will be televised on Sportsnet Pacific with John Shorthouse and Ray Ferraro on the call.

The referees for tonight’s game are Pierre Lambert and Michael Markovic.

What we heard

Max Sasson on doing his best to keep Connor McDavid in check again: “Obviously, he’s the best player in the world so you try to limit his opportunities and take away his ice. Whatever Manny tells us our matchup is we’re ready for that. It’s exciting. He’s super talented, so it’s hard. We look forward to the test. I’m sure he’s going to come out and play super hard and we’ll try to limit his time and space and his good looks.”

Manny Malhotra on facing the Oilers again and what he can take out of Tuesday’s victory: “We saw a lot of things within our game that we liked. There were a number of things that need to be cleaned up. Obviously, having last change at home helps with that matchup. They may change their line-up. You may see those two (McDavid and Draisaitl) together on one line. But it doesn’t change our approach in terms of what we’re trying to accomplish – being in and out of our zone breakout wise. We’re trying to deny as much transition offence as we can. So the game plan doesn’t really shift for us. It will come down to the intensity and the execution.”

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