EDMONTON: Paul Cotter scored 1:59 into overtime and the Vancouver Canucks beat the Edmonton Oilers 6-5 in the 2026-27 season opener at Rogers Place on Tuesday night, spoiling a three-goal, five-point performance by Oilers defenceman Evan Bouchard.
The Oilers rallied from a 5-2 hole in the third period and tied it with 42.5 seconds left in regulation, but the comeback only earned them a point. Cotter, playing his first game for Vancouver, scored twice, including a short-handed goal in the first period, according to NHL.com.
Final: Canucks 6, Oilers 5 (OT). Shots: Edmonton 37, Vancouver 23 (Fox Sports box score). Kevin Lankinen made 32 saves for Vancouver; Tristan Jarry stopped 17 of 23 for Edmonton (NHL.com).
A strong start, then turnovers
Edmonton controlled the opening period, outshooting Vancouver 13-5 and outhitting the Canucks 14-3, The Hockey News reported. Yet it was Vancouver that scored first. A Leon Draisaitl shot on the power play was blocked and the puck fell to Cotter, who finished a two-on-one short-handed at 9:51, according to the Oilers’ live game file on NHL.com.
Bouchard, named an alternate captain before the season, answered at 16:26, walking into the slot off a faceoff and beating Lankinen low to the glove side. Marco Rossi restored Vancouver’s lead at 2:07 of the second on a breakaway after an Oilers turnover, and Bouchard tied it again at 14:34, finishing a feed from Connor McDavid after Alex Formenton won a loose puck.
The game turned early in the third. Jonathan Lekkerimaki scored at 1:10 after an Isaac Howard giveaway, Max Sasson made it 4-2 at 2:55, and Elias Pettersson added a power-play goal at 5:15, set up by Filip Hronek, to put the Canucks up by three.
The comeback
Edmonton pushed back quickly. Vasily Podkolzin, who moved onto the second line beside Draisaitl with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins unavailable, scored at 8:56 with an assist from Bouchard. Just 24 seconds later, at 9:20, Bouchard completed his hat trick to make it 5-4.
With Jarry pulled for an extra attacker on a late power play, Podkolzin tied the game at 19:17 from Draisaitl, his second of the night. In overtime, Cotter took a pass from Sasson and beat Jarry to end it.
Bouchard became just the third defenceman in NHL history to score a hat trick in a season opener, and the first since Mark Howe in 1980, according to NHL.com.
What they said
Oilers head coach Mike Babcock did not dress up the result. “To be honest, we’ve got to feel fortunate we got a point,” he said, as quoted by The Hockey News. He said the Oilers “started good, then we started turning over the puck,” according to NHL.com.
Bouchard pointed to the same problem. “Giving up odd-man rushes, giving up five, six, isn’t going to cut it,” he said, per NHL.com.
On the other bench, Manny Malhotra won his debut as Canucks head coach and became the fourth person to represent Vancouver as both a player and a head coach, joining Orland Kurtenbach, Pat Quinn and Marc Crawford, NHL.com reported. “Not the way we drew it up,” Malhotra said of the blown lead, crediting his goaltender: “‘Lanks’ made some key saves.”
Sasson admitted the Canucks eased off with a three-goal cushion. “It’s a game of momentum,” he said. “We probably got a little too comfy.”
Takeaways for Edmonton
The result tempers some of the optimism from a 4-0 preseason. Two of Vancouver’s goals followed Edmonton turnovers, according to NHL.com, and Jarry, handed the opening-night start by Babcock, allowed six goals on 23 shots. The Oilers held a wide edge in shots, hits and faceoffs but could not protect the puck in the middle of the game.
Nugent-Hopkins missed the game, as reported before puck drop. The club has not announced a timeline for his return.
The two teams complete their season-opening home-and-home on Thursday, Oct. 1, in Vancouver.
Sources: NHL.com game recap, Edmonton Oilers live updates (NHL.com), The Hockey News, ESPN and Fox Sports box scores.
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Photo: Evan Bouchard in a February 2022 game against the Washington Capitals, not from this game. Photo by Brian Murphy / All-Pro Reels, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
