Facing Connor McDavid is always a tall task, but the Canucks were up to the challenge despite missing Captain Quinn Hughes on Sunday night. Hughes is currently day-to-day with a lower body injury as it appears he was injured the game before near the end of the Canucks matchup against the Montreal Canadiens, as he still logged 26:25 minutes of ice time in that game. Hughes has had points on approximately 35% of the Canucks goals the prior two seasons, and is averaging over 26 minutes per game, leading the team by over two minutes, so far this young season.
The Canucks got off to a hot start in the game as they were up 2-0 early by the second period after former Oiler Evander Kane hustled to the puck and made a great centre feed pass to Brock Boeser who slipped a backhand five-hole by Oilers goaltender Calvin Pickard, followed by a power-play one-time slap shot goal by Elias Pettersson from his off wing at the top of the circle past Pickard on the blocker side. Leon Draisaitl responded late in the second period with a goal of his own to cut the deficit to 2-1, but just before the end of the period, the man of the night Kiefer Sherwood score an absolute beauty after receiving a one touch pass at centre ice from Brock Boeser, followed by entering the offensive zone, toe-dragging around Oilers defenceman Mattias Ekholm and sniping the puck past the blocker of Pickard.
The third period featured a strong push by the Oilers as they scored two goals, one by Jack Roslovic, and the other by Leon Draisaitl on the power-play, but Thatcher Demko was able to stand tall at the end of regulation to force the game to overtime. In OT, with three forwards on the ice, the Canucks were able to run an effective possession passing sequence that saw Brock Boeser receive a back hand drop pass from Conor Garland just inside the offensive zone blue line, where Boeser was able to take a few strides towards the net and fire a shot that was tipped in past Pickard by the man who scored the Canucks third goal, Kiefer Sherwood. Sherwood is making his bid for the Cy Young award as he has a goal to assist ratio of 6-0 through 10 games for the Canucks so far this season, a great start for the hard hitting winger who is coming off of a career high 19 goals last season.
Canucks take on the New York Rangers next time out
The Canucks (5-5) will face the New York Rangers (3-5-2) at home next, who are off to a rough start despite the strong play of goaltender Igor Shesterkin, as they rank 31st in the NHL with 2.2 goals per game. The Canucks will look to improve on their 2-2 home record to start the season, but will be without Captain Quinn Hughes for the second straight game due to his lower body injury. Head Coach Adam Foote has been alternating between goaltenders Kevin Lankinen and Thatcher Demko, despite Demko (.922) clearly playing much better than Lankinen (.873) to start the season, but it appears Demko will start for the second straight game for only the second time this season against Rangers goaltender Jonathan Quick.