EDMONTON — Paul Cotter capped a two-goal night with the winner 1:59 into overtime as the Vancouver Canucks outlasted the Edmonton Oilers 6-5 on Tuesday night in a wild season opener in Edmonton.
Marco Rossi, Jonathan Lekkerimaki, Max Sasson and Elias Pettersson also scored for Vancouver (1-0-0), which is coming off a last-place finish last season at 25-49-8. Kevin Lankinen made 32 stops for the win, while Tristan Jarry made 17 saves for Edmonton (0-0-1). The game was tied 2-2 entering the third before Pettersson capped a three-goal run at 5:15 to put Vancouver ahead 5-2.
Edmonton stormed back late to force overtime. Vasily Podkolzin scored at 8:56 of the third, Evan Bouchard followed with his third goal of the night just 24 seconds later, and Podkolzin added his second with 43 seconds left in regulation to tie it 5-5. Cotter then ended it in extra time, lifting in a backhand at 1:59 of overtime after the Oilers had erased the three-goal deficit.
Cotter, who joined Vancouver as a free agent after spending the last two seasons in New Jersey, became the first player in Canucks history to score a short-handed goal in his debut with the team. For Edmonton, Bouchard finished with three goals and two assists and became the first defenceman in Oilers history to record a multi-goal game in a season opener and just the third defenceman in NHL history to score a hat trick in a seasonal lid-lifter. He is also just the third blueliner in the last 30 years to have a four-point game to open the season. Podkolzin scored twice in the comeback.
The win also marked a milestone for Canucks head coach Manny Malhotra, who became the fourth person to represent the Canucks as both a player and head coach, following Marc Crawford, Pat Quinn and Orland Kurtenbach. The two teams will meet again Thursday with a rematch in Vancouver.