McDavid Erupts for Five Points as Oilers Outlast Canucks in 9-7 Thriller

Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers found themselves in a game Thursday night that looked over early — until suddenly, it wasn’t.

McDavid recorded a goal and four assists for his 15th career five-point game as Edmonton survived a furious Vancouver comeback to defeat the Canucks 9-7 at Rogers Arena. NHL.com

The victory gave Edmonton its first win of the season and provided some revenge after Vancouver handed the Oilers a 6-5 overtime loss in their season opener just two nights earlier. ESPN

Edmonton wasted little time taking control of the rematch.

Vasily Podkolzin opened the scoring on the power play before Owen Michaels scored the first goal of his NHL career to make it 2-0. Just 16 seconds later, Evan Bouchard added another, and Ryan Shea’s late first-period goal sent Edmonton into the intermission with a commanding 4-0 advantage. NHL.com

The pressure didn’t stop there.

Leon Draisaitl scored just 27 seconds into the second period, and after Vancouver finally answered, Edmonton continued piling on. Trent Frederic made it 6-1 before McDavid took advantage of a Canucks turnover and scored shorthanded for his first goal of the season.

Only 34 seconds later, Kasperi Kapanen scored another shorthanded goal to give Edmonton what appeared to be an insurmountable 8-2 lead. NHL.com

Then the game completely changed.

Vancouver scored with just 0.1 seconds remaining in the second period and carried that momentum into the third. Marco Rossi scored twice in less than three minutes before Elias Pettersson’s power-play goal suddenly cut Edmonton’s six-goal advantage to 8-6.

A game that had looked like an Oilers blowout had become a two-goal contest with more than 12 minutes remaining.

Draisaitl finally stopped the bleeding, finishing a feed from McDavid on the power play for his second goal of the night and restoring Edmonton’s three-goal advantage. Jamie Oleksiak added another for Vancouver late, but the Canucks’ comeback ultimately ran out of time. NHL.com

Lost somewhat in the chaos was another historic performance from Bouchard. The 26-year-old defenseman finished with a goal and two assists, giving him eight points through Edmonton’s first two games. That made Bouchard the first defenseman in NHL history to record eight points through the opening two games of a season. NHL.com

Bouchard’s start has been remarkable. After recording a hat trick and five points in Edmonton’s opening-night loss, he followed it with another three-point performance Thursday. NHL.com

But McDavid remained at the center of Edmonton’s offensive explosion.

His five-point performance was the 15th of his NHL career, moving him past Jari Kurri for the second-most such games in Oilers history. Only Wayne Gretzky has recorded more in an Edmonton uniform. NHL.com

McDavid now has five assists through the first two games of the season, joining Draisaitl and Gretzky as the only Oilers to accomplish that feat. NHL.com

The offensive numbers were spectacular, but Edmonton will have plenty to clean up. Allowing Vancouver to turn an 8-2 deficit into an 8-6 game in less than a period showed how quickly even a massive lead can disappear.

Still, after dropping a wild opener to the same Canucks team, Edmonton walked away with the result it needed.

And with McDavid already producing five-point nights and Bouchard rewriting the record book two games into the season, the Oilers’ star-powered offense looks every bit as dangerous as advertised.