*Photo from the Vancouver Courier*
These young kids in Vancouver are really something. Brock Boeser scored two goals, Nils Hoglander scored his first NHL goal, and the Vancouver Canucks topped the Edmonton Oilers by a 5-3 score to secure an opening night win. New starting goalie Braden Holtby stopped 28 of 31 shots that came his way, earning his first win in a Canucks uniform.
The Canucks got the scoring rolling in the first period, when Bo Horvat snapped one past Edmonton goalie Mikko Koskinen 15:32 into the game to make it 1-0 Canucks. It stayed like that until the 5:39 mark of the second, when Kailer Yamamoto got the Oilers on the board to tie it at 1. At 17:19 of the second, Hoglander scored his first NHL goal to put the Canucks back up 2-1. In the 3rd period, Darnell Nurse scored just 10 seconds in to tie the game at two. Adam Gaudette then quickly answered for the Canucks to make it 3-2, then Boeser scored goal number 1 to make it a 4-2 game. Around 5 minutes later, Adam Larson scored for the Oilers to cut it to 4-3, but then Boeser extended the lead at 13:46 of the 3rd to make it 5-3, which put it away.
Hoglander described the sheer emotion of scoring his first career goal after the game. Hoglander said that "I couldn't believe it when the puck went in. I was in the moment and I was happy to see the puck going in. It feels good. I think we played a good game and it feels really good."
Canucks coach Travis Green said of the team's effort on opening night that "I'm really happy with our game. It was a good start to our season. I like how we responded in certain parts of the game. Obviously when they scored, we bounced back. It was a nice win."
Koskinen took the loss for the Oilers, saving 30 of 35 shots that came his way, posting just an .857 save percentage on the night.
Oilers coach Dave Tippett said of what his team needs to do better that "I want to see improved puck play getting out of our zone. We gave up two goals off pucks we played on the wall and didn't get it out. Just some poor puck play led to a lot of chances against."
Yamamoto talked about the team's performance as well, saying that "I think it just comes down to us, a lot of those goals are mistakes by us. They're all correctable and once we do that, we'll be good. It's the first game. We haven't played in a few months. It's going to take a little bit of time."
The Canucks and the Oilers will face each other again tonight, with young goalie Thatcher Demko getting the start for the Canucks, according to Green, while Koskinen starts for Edmonton.
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