Quadrelli Report: Vancouver Canucks beat Oilers, Rafferty, Markstrom shine

The Vancouver Canucks were in Edmonton last night, and managed to beat the Oilers in their second preseason game against them this preseason.

The Vancouver Canucks have had a good preseason thus far. The new additions have played exactly how management hoped they would play and there have been some standout rookies as well.

Brogan Rafferty continues to impress

I’d say Brogan Rafferty has about a five to ten percent chance to be on the Canucks roster come opening night. Before last night, I would have said his chances were closer to one percent. The chances are still extremely slim as the Canucks have more veteran options on the right side of their blue line, but last night marked another solid performance for Rafferty.

Rafferty moved the puck well, played physical, smart, and had a beauty of a goal to boot. In fact, Rafferty scored on the Canucks’ very first shot of the game. J.T. Miller won the faceoff back to the point from the right dot in the Edmonton zone to Rafferty, who let go of a slap shot that had eyes and beat Oilers’ goaltender Mikko Koskinen through traffic.

Later in the first, Rafferty led a rush into the offensive zone and set up Leivo with a perfect cross-crease backhand pass that Koskinen was able to make a sliding pad save on. There were certainly a few teachable moments as well for the young defenceman.

Certainly more times than his coach and goaltender would like, Rafferty was heading out of the Canucks’ zone before the Canucks had gotten it out. Getting a little ahead of yourself is bound to happen when a young player starts to get comfortable, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing — the comfort level, that is.