Canucks: Three takeaways from 3-2 preseason loss to Oilers

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.

#2 Pettersson and Hughes look good in their first preseason game

The main reason why the power play came to life was that Pettersson and Hughes were back on it.

The two recently signed players did not look out of place in their preseason debut.

Hughes got on the scoresheet with a blast from the point on the power play.

Pettersson got an assist on Nic Petan’s power-play goal. Pettersson and company displayed a pretty fun passing play to watch.

Pettersson displayed good playmaking skills and he showed off the one-timer a few times. It was also nice to see Hughes be on the blue line on the power play again. He did let the Oilers get by him a few times but there were no glaring errors from him.

“I felt pretty good, little jitters at the start, after not having played in awhile,” said Hughes to the media after the game. “Exciting to go out there and play in front of fans again.”

Head coach Travis Green gave his thoughts on the two players’ first preseason game.

“I thought they both got better as the game went on,” said Green. “I’m not surprised, they are young players, I thought they played well.”

It was a good sight for Canucks fans to see Pettersson and Hughes in the lineup again and they did not disappoint.

#3 Podkolzin continues to impress

Podkolzin had a quiet start to the preseason. While he wasn’t doing anything wrong, he just wasn’t very noticeable but there were some flashes.

In the last game against the Kraken, you couldn’t help but notice him and the same was true on Thursday night in Edmonton.

When Podkolzin had the puck in the offensive zone, he was around the net or behind it. There he would set up a teammate who was standing in front of the net. For instance, he was behind the net and waited for the perfect time to pass to Petan who was unfortunately robbed by Mike Smith.

Podkolzin also drove to the net multiple times during the game. He easily got by the Oilers defenders using his strength and acceleration. There was one play where he drove to the net and fed a perfect pass to J.T. Miller who fanned on the shot.

Speaking of passes, the young Russian winger’s passes were very accurate, and correct me if I’m wrong but it seems that he didn’t give make a single bad pass throughout the entire game.

One thing that also stood out from Podkolzin was his puck handling. He was making moves around the Oilers the entire game and it looked like the puck was on his string.

If there were any doubts about Podkolzin during the preseason, they surely have been erased now.