Who is favored in Edmonton Oilers at Vancouver Canucks?

Edmonton Oilers are favored on the moneyline.

Who is predicted to win Edmonton Oilers at Vancouver Canucks?

Our pick is Vancouver Canucks. Edmonton is priced as if its full roster is healthy, but it has lost Nugent-Hopkins, 3 other centers and its starting goalie, and Jarry just let in 6 on 23 shots. The Canucks' price should come in once people look past the McDavid name and at who is actually playing behind him.

Edmonton Oilers at Vancouver Canucks

Thu Oct 1·7:00 PM PT·Vancouver, BC

By JR·2 min read

EDM(0-0-1)

VAN(1-0-0)

Thursday 10/017:00 PM

TLDR: The Babcock era opened with 11 goals, a blown 3-goal lead and a Canucks winner in overtime. 2 nights later the rematch moves to Vancouver on Thursday, and Edmonton has a defensive mess to clean up fast.

FRI OCT 2, 7:00 PM

Oilers

(0-0-1)

Canucks

(1-0-0)

The Canucks beat the Oilers 6-5 in overtime in Edmonton on opening night, and the rematch moves to Vancouver 2 days later. Edmonton has McDavid and a red-hot Bouchard but is missing Nugent-Hopkins and 3 other centers, has Andersen out until around December, and is still learning Babcock's system after a defensive meltdown. Vancouver's depth scored and Lankinen held up, but the Canucks gave away a 3-goal lead in the third.

Edmonton Oilers

Bouchard had 5 points in the opener
Rallied from 5-2 down in the third period
McDavid and Podkolzin both produced Tuesday
Jarry allowed 6 goals on 23 shots
Nugent-Hopkins and 3 other centers sidelined
Pinches broke Babcock's system, gave up odd-man rushes

Vancouver Canucks

5 different goal scorers in the opener
Lankinen steady with Demko on IR
Cotter's forecheck forced the OT winner
Blew a 3-goal third-period lead
Demko and Chytil both on IR

Tuesday's opener in Edmonton was a lot of fun for everyone except the defensemen. Vancouver scored 3 goals in 4:05 in the third to go up 5-2, Edmonton stormed back to force overtime, and Paul Cotter ended it at 1:59 of the extra frame by forcing a turnover in the Oilers' zone and finishing a feed from Max Sasson. Evan Bouchard put up a hat trick and 2 assists, the first 5-point game by a defenseman in a season opener in NHL history. Vasily Podkolzin scored twice and Connor McDavid had 2 assists. None of it was enough to get the win.

Mike Babcock didn't sugarcoat it. "Tonight was an indication that we have serious work to do," he said, calling that kind of play "unacceptable." The Oilers kept breaking out of his system with bad pinches that gave up breakaways and odd-man rushes, and Tristan Jarry allowed 6 goals on 23 shots. Babcock is putting in a new structure after a shortened camp, with 2 preseason games per veteran, so a 48-hour turnaround doesn't leave much time for film sessions. Even so, Edmonton goes into Rogers Arena as a heavy road favorite.

Vancouver doesn't look like a team that needs to apologize. Marco Rossi, Jonathan Lekkerimaki, Sasson and Elias Pettersson all scored along with Cotter, so 5 different Canucks got on the board. Kevin Lankinen held up under 30-plus shots with Thatcher Demko still recovering from hip surgery. The ugly part was the third period, when Vancouver let a 3-goal lead disappear in front of a hostile building. They'll have their own crowd on Thursday.

The Oilers have a thin roster at center. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins is out about 2 weeks with a lower-body injury, and Matt Savoie (about 8 weeks), Jason Dickinson and Mattias Janmark are all on injured reserve. That leaves McDavid and whoever Babcock slots in behind him to carry the middle of the ice. The goaltending picture is thin too. Frederik Andersen's knee has him out until maybe December, so Jarry doesn't have a veteran behind him to take the net if he struggles again.

Vancouver has its own absences. Demko is on IR with a pre-Christmas target, and Filip Chytil is on IR as well, but the Canucks' depth scored on Tuesday while Edmonton's didn't. Puck drop is 7:00 PM PT Thursday. If the Oilers keep pinching like they did in the opener, Vancouver's forwards will keep getting chances in transition, and the Oilers have 1 practice day to fix it.

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