Oilers coach says team 'laid an egg' in 8-1 loss to Canucks

Vancouver Canucks' Brock Boeser, back centre, Phillip Di Giuseppe (34), Quinn Hughes (43), Filip Hronek (17) and J.T. Miller (9) celebrate Boeser's fourth goal as Edmonton Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner, back right, Zach Hyman (18) and Evan Bouchard (2) look on, during the third period of an NHL hockey game in Vancouver, on Wednesday, October 11, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

VANCOUVER -

Brock Boeser scored a career-high four goals and the Vancouver Canucks routed the Edmonton Oilers 8-1 on Wednesday night to start a home-and-home opening set.

“I kind of got to that mindset in the summer where I’ve got to be a better hockey player and really work hard,” Boeser said. “I came back and it continues each and every day, I’ve got to have that same mindset. Tomorrow, the next practice, the morning skate, I’ve got to keep it going.”

The teams will meet again Saturday night in Edmonton.

Conor Garland, Elias Pettersson, J.T. Miller and Dakota Joshua also scored for the Canucks, with Miller adding four assists and Pettersson three. Quinn Hughes also had three assists.

Thatcher Demko started in goal for Vancouver and stopped 21 of 22 shots in 48 minutes. Casey DeSmith made five saves the rest of the way.

Leon Draisaitl scored for Edmonton, with Connor McDavid assisting. Draisaitl extended his points streak against the Canucks to 19 games.

“There’s lots of lessons there for us,” McDavid said. ”It sucks that this happens in the first game of the year. These nights happen. It sucks that’s the first one, obviously.”

Oilers starter Jack Campbell and Stuart Skinner each allowed four goals.

“We laid an egg tonight,” Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft said. “We all own it. We’re all in this one together and the bottom line is we were at a preseason level of work ethic and a preseason level of execution, all of us, and we got a lesson in regular-season work ethic and regular-season battle level.”

After Garland opened the scoring, Boeser scored three straight goals for a natural hat trick and 4-0 lead. He made it 6-1 early in the third period. The Minnesotan had 18 goals in 74 games last season.

“I know he did some different training this year, he’s had a good camp, and he knows that he’s got to keep going,” Canucks coach Rick Tocchet said. "He had four goals, a couple screens, he was a big part of the game tonight.”

Demko was pulled because of dehydration, with the netminder throwing up in his mask.

“He didn’t really want to come out but then when he puked in his mask I said, `You’ve got to come out,'” Tocchet said.

UP NEXT

Oilers: Host Vancouver on Saturday night.

Canucks: At Edmonton on Saturday night.