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Pettersson, Hughes impactful in Canucks return; Gadjovich lost on waivers |
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Thursday October 7 - Edmonton Oilers 3 - Vancouver Canucks 2
First things first: How nice was it to see Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes back on the ice for the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday night?
Hughes picked up a goal and an assist and played a team-high 25:34 while Pettersson logged a team-high six shots on goal and picked up an assist as the Canucks went toe-to-toe with McDavid and company.
The final score doesn't concern me. When I looked at the teams' lineups earlier in the day, I saw a close-to-regular-season group for the Oilers while Vancouver most notably left the Horvat line, Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Tyler Myers all at home.
I'm also not sure that Edmonton's third goal would have ended up counting in a regular-season scenario. In the third period, the Oilers had a goal called back when Zach Hyman interfered with Jaroslav Halak. The veteran goaltender, who was one of the first three players named to Slovakia's Olympic team on Friday, also looked unhappy with what proved to be the winner. Zack Kassian was in very close quarters as Derek Ryan beat Halak with his tip of a shot by Duncan Keith.
There was definitely a pregnant pause before the goal was allowed to stand.
If you're looking for new names atop NHL scoring race this season, Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl are out to spoil your dreams. Both players had a power-play goal and assist on Thursday against Vancouver. After finishing 1-2 in 2020-21, that's where they're sitting again after four preseason appearances apiece — McDavid with three goals and six assists for nine points and Draisaitl with two goals and five assists for seven points, in a three-way tie for second with Matthew Tkachuk of Calgary, Mats Zuccarello of Minnesota and Jakub Voracek, now of Columbus.
Much like Wayne Gretzky's otherworldly years in Edmonton back in the 80s, when he feasted on the Canucks, Vancouver fans may take McDavid for granted a little bit because we see him so often — and want to see the Canucks shut him down.
After American audiences barely saw the Canadian teams last year because of the rejiggered divisions, I found it really interesting to hear Eddie Olyczyk talk on Thursday about how the broadcast schedule for TNT's new NHL coverage this fall will include two trips to Edmonton, and a generally more diverse slate of team coverage than we've seen in the past from NBC.
As part of the network's studio crew, I wonder if Gretzky himself nudged the network in that direction?
All told, TNT will show six Oilers games this season. The Canucks, who almost never got TV time on NBC, are on the docket three times — for home games at Rogers Arena on Jan. 5 against the New York Islanders and Mar. 5 against Montreal, then in Vegas on Apr. 6.
For more, here's my story on TNT's plans for the upcoming season.
On the other side of the U.S. broadcast platform, the Canucks' only appearance with the ESPN family is the Seattle Kraken home opener on Oct. 23, which will run on ESPN+ and Hulu. ESPN+ is also becoming the U.S. provider of out-of-market streaming games, replacing NHL Live. So while we still have to sign up for the NHL's stand-alone streaming package here in Canada, American fans will receive those games automatically with their ESPN+ subscription, which is US$70 a year as a stand-alone and can also be bundled with other Disney products such as Hulu and Disney+.
Now, back to Thursday's game...
The Oilers built a 2-0 lead in the first period, when they outshot the Canucks 18-9. Vancouver was whistled for four penalties in the opening frame, and both Edmonton goals came with the man advantage, including one on a 5-on-3.
Was that the one-period acclimation that Petey and Quinn needed to get their feet back under them? In the final two frames, the Canucks outshot the Oilers 30-24 and outscored them 2-1, with both Vancouver goals also coming on the power play.
Hughes' mobility looks as dynamic as ever, and while Petey's shooting might still be off by just a hair, his hockey sense was on full display, including when he threaded the puck through to Nic Petan for Vancouver's second goal of the night.
With Petan originally seen as the 'placeholder' for Pettersson, that play drives home the possibility that he might end up sticking around. He has been versatile, and has been used on the penalty kill. And he leads the Canucks in preseason scoring, with two goals and two assists in four games played.
At even strength, Petan played on the wing with J.T. Miller and Vasily Podkolzin, who did a marvellous job of building on his good effort against Seattle with his strongest showing yet. He's still searching for his first point, and that line was on the ice for Edmonton's winning goal, but Podkolzin is showed his willingness to drive to the net and his sharp passing abilities on Thursday night, while logging five shots on goal.
One other note about Pettersson, which may help to confirm that he's finally 100% healed from that nagging wrist injury: he was excellent in the faceoff circle on Thursday night, going 8-for-15. His career average is just 41.7%, and Travis Green has chosen to limit the number of draws that he has taken over the past two seasons. If Pettersson can handle regular faceoff duties, that definitely helps open up Miller to potentially anchor his own line when needed.
At first glance, I also have no complaints about the debut of Hughes' partnership with Tucker Poolman. The new arrival was second in ice time at 21:32, including 6:35 on the penalty kill, and the pair gave up nothing at even strength despite often being matched up against the McDavid-Draisaitl-Puljujarvi trio.
I won't dwell on the late-game scrap between Zack MacEwen and Zack Kassian — which I'm assuming was born out of MacEwen's goaltender interference penalty against Mike Smith six minutes earlier. It's great news that Kassian seems to be okay after hitting his head on the ice at the end of the fight, and while that outcome was certainly sobering, I think you'll see the emotion continue to ramp up as the Canucks and Oilers close out their preseason schedules against each other at Rogers Arena on Saturday before opening the regular season in Edmonton next Wednesday.
To close out today — a few quick player personnel notes.
As I'm sure you've heard by now, winger Jonah Gadjovich was claimed on waivers by the San Jose Sharks on Thursday.
According to Thomas Drance, if it hadn't been the Sharks, who finished 26th in the league standings last season and thus are sixth in the NHL's preseason waiver pecking order, it would have been someone else.
Yes, it was good to see Gadjovich look like he'd taken another step forward this preseason, particularly with his skating, but Travis Green wasn't exactly showering him with praise before he was selected — and didn't go out of his way to use him much during exhibition games, where he played only twice.
He'll be missed in Abbotsford, where he would have been counted on to provide an offensive touch. But his departure may open up a bigger spot for young Danila Klimovich, who was re-assigned on Wednesday.
And perhaps he will stick. Interesting detail from Rick Dhaliwal here on his AHL eligibility:
Apparently this season, the NHL has switched the time for its waiver announcements from 9 a.m. PT to 11 a.m., which is why it seems to be taking longer to hear who's on waivers each day, and whether or not players have cleared.
Elliotte Friedman has one more Canuck on the list on Friday — forward Sheldon Dries. He played his fourth preseason game on Thursday, logging 8:33 including 1:41 on the penalty kill.
And while we're still waiting for word on when Brandon Sutter and/or Travis Hamonic might re-join the Canucks, Justin Bailey was in the lineup on Thursday, after a long road back that included shoulder surgery and a bout with Covid that was mild, health-wise, but led to a complex journey back to Vancouver due to Canadian border restrictions.
Bailey's play looked energetic as he finally got back onto the ice, playing 11:24 on Thursday night.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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