The Oilers split the season-opening home-and-home series after losing to the Canucks 6-5 in overtime in Edmonton on Tuesday.
Leon Draisaitl had two goals and an assist, Evan Bouchard had a goal and two assists, and Kasperi Kapanen and Vasily Podkolzin each had a goal and assist for Edmonton (1-0-1). Devon Levi made 15 saves in his Oilers regular-season debut after begin acquired from the Buffalo Sabres on July 1.
Marco Rossi had two goals and an assist, Elias Pettersson had a goal and two assists, and Brock Boeser, Paul Cotter, Arshdeep Bains and Jamie Oleksiak each had a goal and an assist for the Canucks (1-1-0), who trailed 8-2 late in the third period.
Kevin Lankinen allowed eight goals on 20 shots before being pulled 8:23 into the second period for Leevi Merilanen, who made 10 saves in his Vancouver debut after being claimed off waivers from the Ottawa Senators on Friday.
Podkolzin, taking the place of Zach Hyman (upper body) on the top unit, gave Edmonton a 1-0 lead on the power play at 9:26 of the first period, converting a cross-ice pass from Kapanen from the edge of the crease.
Owen Michaels scored his first NHL goal at 14:26 to make it 2-0, one-timing Mathieu Joseph’s pass from behind the net past Lankinen from the low slot.
Bouchard, who had three goals and two assists in the opener, made it 3-0 just 16 seconds later when a rebound from his low shot off the boards bounced in off the skate of Canucks defenseman Tom Willander at the edge of the crease.
Defenseman Ryan Shea scored his first with Edmonton at 19:32 to make it 4-0, snapping a low shot past Lankinen from the hash marks after McDavid spun off a check and spotted him skating in alone as the trailer on a rush.
Draisaitl made it 5-0 just 27 seconds into the second period after he banked a shot from below the goal line in off the back of Lankinen’s shoulder.
Cotter scored on a screened shot to after cutting into the slot at 4:31 to pull the Canucks to 5-1, but Trent Frederic converted a rebound in tight 33 seconds later to restore the five-goal lead at 6-1.
Boeser made it 6-2 at 5:47 with a wrist shot off the rush through the skates of defenseman Jake Wallman and over Levi’s blocker, but gave the puck away on a power play drop pass for the first of two short-handed goals.
McDavid pounced on the pass on the penalty kill and extended it to 7-2 at 7:49 when he skated around Elias Pettersson and cut through the crease, beating Lankinen far side. Kapanen then scored on a short-handed breakaway to push it to 8-2 at 8:23.
Bains scored on a rebound with 0.1 seconds remaining to make it 8-3 following two quality saves by Levi.
Rossi cut it to 8-4 at 1:53 of the third period on a rebound in tight, and again at 4:43 to make it 8-5 when a deflection bounced off his shoulder and trickled in.
Pettersson extended it to 8-6 on the power play at 7:37, one-timing a cross-ice pass from Rossi over Levi’s glove from above the right face-off dot. But Draisaitl replied on an Oilers power play at 9:26 to give Edmonton a 9-6 lead, taking a pass from McDavid and quickly snapping it under the pads of Merilainen from below the right dot.
Oleksiak one-timed a rebound over Levi’s blocker from above the left dot at 18:31 for his first Canucks goal and the 9-7 final.
