Vancouver Canucks Face 7–3 Defeat In A Hard-Hitting Affair Against The Edmonton Oilers

On November 9th, the Vancouver Canucks faced off against the Edmonton Oilers for the first time in the 2024–25 regular season, suffering a brutal 7–3 loss. Leon Draisaitl opened the scoring for the Oilers, followed by goals from Corey Perry, Viktor Arvidsson, Connor Brown (2), Connor McDavid, and Brett Kulak. For Vancouver, Elias Pettersson, Filip Hronek, and Pius Suter tucked the puck past Stuart Skinner. In net, Kevin Lankinen made his fourth start in a row, registering his first regulation loss and making 20 saves on 27 shots.

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With an upper-body injury to Brock Boeser and the trading of Daniel Sprong, the Canucks’ lineup looked to be preparing for Jonathan Lekkerimäki’s Vancouver debut. However, news broke from Abbotsford that the Canucks’ first-round pick of 2022 suffered a tweak. Nils Åman and Arshdeep Bains received the call-up instead, with the former slotting into the lineup. Noah Juulsen also played this game, as Vancouver chose to dress seven defensemen.

A holding penalty on Canucks Captain Quinn Hughes sent the Oilers on the power play just 44 seconds into the period. Edmonton’s power play looked dangerous, with Draisaitl contributing a flurry of chances. After a bit of crowding in front of Lankinen, an open Draisaitl tucked the puck into Vancouver’s net to make it 1–0 only seconds after the power play ended. Edmonton continued their dominance over possession throughout the rest of the first period.

The early penalty kill did no favours for a Vancouver team missing their current top goal scorer in Boeser. Aside from a stretch near the middle of the period, the Canucks surrendered most of the offensive-zone possession time to Edmonton. However, the team looked far from disengaged. While the Oilers dominated in shots, the Canucks got off to a rocket start, physically speaking — in the first period, Vancouver had more hits (14) than Edmonton had shots (11).

An explosion of goals came in the second period, as Edmonton and Vancouver collectively scored four goals in the span of under four minutes. The first goal of the period came off of a tic-tac-toe play from Derek Ryan and Mattias Janmark, eventually coming to Perry waiting at the open end of Vancouver’s net. This came after Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch decided to stick with his fourth line when taking an offensive-zone faceoff rather than loading up with McDavid and Draisaitl. Only 73 seconds later, Edmonton scored their third goal of the game off a long shot from Arvidsson.

Despite the result, Pettersson had his best game of the season, appearing much more eager than he has in previous games. He started the second period with a one-time chance off some early pressure in the offensive zone. After Edmonton took a 3–0 lead, he came back and tipped in the Canucks’ first goal only 17 seconds after off a shot from Jake DeBrusk. Throughout the preceding offensive chances for Vancouver, he lingered around the net, screening Skinner and helping create more pressure. A turnover ended with Danton Heinen bringing the puck back into the Oilers’ zone, followed by Hronek wiring home his first goal of the season and cutting the Canucks’ deficit to one. The second period ended with a more-even shot count (15 for Edmonton, 14 for Vancouver), and an even-wider margin of hits (26 for Vancouver, eight for Edmonton).

While Lankinen has seen much success with the Canucks, he suffered his first regulation loss after being peppered with goal after goal in the third period. He made stretch after stretch of impressive saves, with one of the most notable coming off a shorthanded 2-on-1 chance from Vasily Podkolzin and Brown in the second period. However, from the get-go, Lankinen struggled with shots taken with crowding in front of him, as two of Edmonton’s goals were scored off these types of chances.

Vancouver’s third period got off to a bad start, as Tyler Myers took a tripping penalty 45 seconds in. While Pettersson had an impressive stick check on McDavid on the penalty kill, the offensive-zone possession seemed to ignite the fire that fuelled the Oilers. The game took a turn for the worse after a bouncing puck found Brown’s stick and ended up in the back of the net six minutes into the third. This was followed by a power play goal from McDavid off a holding penalty on Hronek, as well as goals by Kulak and Brown (again). Edmonton’s four third-period goals came within a span of five minutes. After the Oilers’ seventh goal, Artūrs Šilovs came in in relief for Lankinen. Vancouver tallied one more power play goal from Suter with only a minute left in the game, ending the game with 33 hits in total.

Facts and Stats:

- Kiefer Sherwood becomes the first player this season to surpass 80 hits

- Danton Heinen joins Shea Theodore as the only player from Langley to skate in 500 career NHL games

- The Canucks have now scored a power play goal in three straight games

- Vancouver records 30+ hits for the fifth time this season

Scoring Summary:

First Period:

2:48 - EDM: Leon Draisaitl (10) from Zach Hyman and Connor McDavid

Second Period:

3:30 - EDM: Corey Perry (3) from Mattias Janmark and Derek Ryan
4:43 - EDM: Viktor Arvidsson (2) from Leon Draisaitl and Brett Kulak
5:01 - VAN: Elias Pettersson (3) from Jake DeBrusk
7:00 - VAN: Filip Hronek (1) from Teddy Blueger and Danton Heinen

Third Period:

6:10 - EDM: Connor Brown (2) from Adam Henrique and Mattias Janmark
7:16 - EDM: Connor McDavid (4) from Zach Hyman and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (PPG)
8:08 - EDM: Brett Kulak (4) from Connor McDavid and Ty Emberson
11:05 - EDM: Connor Brown (3) from Mattias Janmark
19:06 - VAN: Pius Suter (5) from Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes (PPG)

Up Next: 

Vancouver’s next game will come against another Albertan rival, the Calgary Flames, at home on Tuesday, November 12th. The game is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. PST.