Thursday night had a lot of sports to watch. The Canadian Men’s National soccer team were playing a World Cup qualifying game against Mexico, the Seattle Seahawks were battling the LA Rams on Thursday Night Football and the Vancouver Canucks were playing a preseason game against the Edmonton Oilers.
The Oilers pretty much dressed their main roster. Superstars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl played like they were in midseason form already.
Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes made their preseason debuts after signing contract extensions a few days ago.
Jaroslav Halak was in goal and he made 39 saves on 42 Oilers shots.
Here are three takeaways from the Canucks second last preseason game.
#1 Special teams the story again
Like last game against the Seattle Kraken, special teams were a story for the Canucks.
Firstly, the Canucks had a tough time staying out of the box. In the opening frame, Hughes and Zack MacEwen were both penalized for hooking and the Oilers capitalized on both power plays. Who scored on those power plays? McDavid and Draisaitl of course.
Kyle Burroughs took two high sticking penalties and MacEwen was penalized for goaltender interference and so was Vasily Podkolzin. (Though that one looked questionable.) The Canucks also had a bench minor for too many men on the ice. That’s the type of penalty that makes you facepalm and say “c’mon man!” Too many men penalties have been a recurring thing for the Canucks in recent seasons.
Yes, it’s only preseason but the penalty kill has been a concern for the Canucks. It seems they have given up at least one power-play goal every game in the preseason so far. It also doesn’t help that they are taking so many penalties especially against an Oilers power play that looks like it will be the league’s best this season.
Fortunately, the Canucks managed to kill off the Oilers next four attempts which included a two-man advantage.
The power play, on the other hand, converted on two of its five attempts. They were moving the puck well and getting lots of traffic and shots on the net.