The Vancouver Canucks will look to make it back-to-back victories to open the season when they visit their division-rival Edmonton Oilers on Saturday night.
Vancouver scored four third-period goals in a 5-1 season-opening win over the Calgary Flames on Thursday night.
Filip Chytil scored twice, Jonathan Lekkerimaki, Brock Boeser and Kiefer Sherwood also found the back of the net.
Adam Foote, who replaced Rick Tocchet, picked up his first career head coaching win.
“He deserves it,” Chytil said. “He’s been great since Day 1, and I’m very happy for him, and he’s a guy who we want to play for, and we want to battle for on the ice.”
Goaltender Thatcher Demko made 17 saves in the victory. The Canucks starter was sidelined for the first two months of last season, recovering from a knee injury, and made just 23 appearances in the Vancouver net.
“I think the first game is huge,” Demko said. “Just keep the momentum building, and especially the turnover we had from last year in our room and our coaching staff, too. It’s a testament to the work everyone put in the summer and then through camp. Obviously, 81 left, but it was a good first one for sure.”
The Canucks dropped two of three meetings with the Oilers last season and were out-scored 15-8.
Saturday’s game is a return to Edmonton for Evander Kane, who spent parts of three seasons with the Oilers. The Vancouver native scored 62 goals and 111 points in 161 regular-season games and helped the Oilers reach the Stanley Cup final in back-to-back seasons before being traded in the offseason.
Kane registered an assist in his Canucks debut Thursday.
The Oilers enter the contest in search of their first win of the season after surrendering a three-goal lead and losing 4-3 in a shootout to the Calgary Flames on Wednesday night.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored a goal and added two helpers, Leon Draisaitl scored his 400th career goal and added an assist and captain Connor McDavid chipped in two assists in the loss.
Andrew Mangiapane, making his Oilers debut after signing in Edmonton in the offseason, also scored.
“We just kind of got sloppy with it and turned the puck over too much, which started to give (Calgary) life,” Nugent-Hopkins said. “They capitalized on one, and then the power play, and then they started to get the momentum there. But it started with 10 minutes of being sloppy and just turning the puck over.”
Goaltender Stuart Skinner made 19 saves in the loss.
Edmonton officially announced the signing of free-agent forward Jack Roslovic to a one-year, $1.5 million contract Wednesday. The 28-year-old scored 22 goals and 39 points in 81 games with the Carolina Hurricanes last season.
Roslovic skated with Curtis Lazar as the extra forwards during line rushes at Oilers practice Friday.
Defenseman Darnell Nurse missed Friday’s practice and was replaced by Troy Stecher on a pairing with Alec Regula.
–Field Level Media
