The Vancouver Canucks knew they had their hands full on Saturday night, when reigning scoring Connor McDavid and the star-studded Edmonton Oilers came to town.
But even without Brock Boeser — a questionable healthy scratch hours before the game — the Canucks played an excellent team game and escaped with a 3-2 victory. The team looked much faster and more structured, and guys like Jake Virtanen and even Troy Stecher used their physicality to throw out some big hits.
Vancouver won its season opener for the fourth consecutive year, and they’re on pace to finish 82-0-0.