SportsDirect Inc. Ad
SportsDirect Inc. Ad
SportsDirect Inc. Ad
National Hockey League
Edmonton 5, Vancouver 3
When: 10:00 PM ET, Wednesday, October 12, 2022
Where: Rogers Place, Edmonton, Alberta
Referees: Garrett Rank, Kelly Sutherland
Linesmen: Brandon Gawryletz, Mark Shewchyk
Attendance: 18347

Connor McDavid scored a hat trick and also had an assist as the host Edmonton Oilers rallied from a three-goal, second-period deficit to defeat the Vancouver Canucks 5-3 on Wednesday night in the season opener for both teams.

McDavid has 11 career regular-season hat tricks plus one in the 2020 playoff qualifying round. He also became the sixth-fastest player in NHL history to reach the 700-point plateau, getting there in 488 games.

Leon Draisaitl had a goal and two assists, Darnell Nurse scored a short-handed goal and added an assist and Zach Hyman also had two assists for the Oilers. Jack Campbell made 33 saves in his Edmonton debut.

J.T. Miller had a goal and an assist and Elias Pettersson and Andrei Kuzmenko also scored goals for Vancouver. Thatcher Demko finished with 20 saves.

Vancouver jumped out to a 2-0 lead on goals by Pettersson and Miller just 51 seconds apart, setting a franchise record for the two fastest goals to start a season in the process. The Canucks needed just 2:40 to score the two goals, breaking the previous mark of 3:55 set in 1983 against the Calgary Flames.

The 26-year-old Kuzmenko, an undrafted free agent making his Vancouver debut after starring in the Kontinental Hockey League in Russia, made it 3-0 just 39 seconds into the second period with a power-play goal, tapping in Miller's cross-ice pass into a wide-open right side of the net.

But Edmonton rebounded to tie it before the end of the period with three goals in the span of 15:07. The first two came on the power play.

Draisaitl got the first one on a wrist shot from the bottom of the right circle and McDavid followed with wrist shot from the right side of the goal at the end of a tic-tac-toe passing play with Tyson Barrie and Draisaitl. Nurse then tied it at the 19:19 mark with a short-handed goal, one-timing a shot from the right circle off a Draisaitl pass at the end of a three-on-one break.

McDavid then gave Edmonton its first lead with 4:59 to go in the game when he buried his own rebound from the low slot for his 700th career NHL point.

Vancouver pulled Demko for an extra attacker with 2:11 to go and McDavid sealed the win with an empty-netter off an Evander Kane feed with 24.5 seconds left.

--Field Level Media

Top Game Performances
 
Vancouver   Edmonton
J.T. Miller 2 Points Connor McDavid 4
J.T. Miller 1 Goals Connor McDavid 3
J.T. Miller 1 Assists Leon Draisaitl 2
Andrei Kuzmenko 1 Power Play Goals Connor McDavid 2
N/A Short Handed Goals Darnell Nurse 1
Thatcher Demko .833 Save Percentage Jack Campbell .917
Thatcher Demko 20 Saves Jack Campbell 33
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Shots Goals Power Play Penalty Kill Penalty Mins Face Offs Won
Vancouver 36 3 1-8 1-4 8 37
Edmonton 25 5 3-4 7-8 16 34
Upcoming Games
  • Edmonton will play their next game at home against Calgary. The Oilers have a W/L % of 1.000 after a win and .000 after a loss.
  • Vancouver will play their next game on the road against Philadelphia. The Canucks have a W/L % of .000 after a win and .000 after a loss.