The Vancouver Canucks shocked the Edmonton Oilers in their home opener, winning a 6-5 marathon that exposed Edmonton's goaltending issues once again. The Oilers battled back from a 5-2 deficit to force overtime and get the extra point, but there were no moral victories as the Mike Babcock era started with a loss to last season's worst team.
Edmonton tried to fix its goaltending by adding Frederik Andersen and Devon Levi in the offseason, but an injury to Andersen set the stage for Tristan Jarry to get the opening-night start. Jarry's performance was not up to par, which should mean that Levi gets the start in the second game of the home-and-home -- and this could be the moment when the rookie steals the net and proves he is the future of their crease.
The Oilers are battling injuries, but it seems unlikely that Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Evan Bouchard will let their team drop two straight games to the league's laughingstock from a year ago. The Canucks are scrappier this year and could be an intriguing team, but they have nowhere near the talent of the Oilers' top end.
Oilers vs Canucks prediction: Edmonton -1.5 (+110) available at time of publishing. Playable at that number.
