NHL Odds, Preview, Prediction: Canucks vs Oilers (Saturday, October 14)

Canucks vs Oilers Odds

Edmonton was embarrassed by Vancouver in its season opener, but if there's a silver lining, it's that the Oilers have an opportunity to redeem themselves in a rematch against the Canucks on Saturday.

Edmonton will be hungry going into this contest, but Vancouver also has plenty of motivation to demonstrate the blowout was no fluke.

Let's break down Canucks vs Oilers on Saturday night.

There's no question Wednesday's victory over Edmonton was an outlier. Brock Boeser, who scored 18 goals in 74 contests last year, found the back of the net four times in the season opener and that may never happen again.

Vancouver's offense took center stage, but Thatcher Demko stopping 21 of 22 shots was what Canucks fans should be most excited about.

The Canucks averaged a solid 3.29 goals last year, and with much of the same cast returning, their offense was always expected to be fine.

Conversely, Vancouver's defense last season was a weakness as the team finished 20th with 180.11 5v5 expected goals allowed, per Moneypuck.

What really kept the Canucks out of the playoffs last year was their goaltending.

Demko missed a significant portion of the 2022-23 campaign due to injury, which led to Spencer Martin, who had a 3.63 GAA and an .885 save percentage in 29 contests, and Collin Delia, who posted a 3.28 GAA and an .882 save percentage in 20 appearances, being leaned on more than they should've.

It also didn't help that Demko struggled even when healthy and finished the campaign with a 3.16 GAA and a .901 save percentage in 32 starts.

So, to have Demko both healthy – relatively, he played through an illness Wednesday before exiting in the third – and effective is a big boost for Vancouver and potentially a major headache for Edmonton.

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Edmonton is in some ways the other side of the same coin when it comes to evaluating Wednesday's contest.

The Oilers were limited to one goal, but that's not too concerning. A team featuring Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Zach Hyman and Evander Kane isn't going to struggle to score on most nights.

The part that was worrying was the performance Stuart Skinner and Jack Campbell. Each goaltender surrendered four goals on 16 shots.

Given Campbell's struggles last year – he had a 3.41 GAA and an .888 save percentage in 36 outings – and Skinner's relative inexperience at the age of 24 – he logged just 64 career NHL contests going into this campaign – there's no guarantee Edmonton's goaltending will be adequate this year.

It will help if defenseman Mattias Ekholm (hip) is able to play Saturday after missing Wednesday's contest.

The Oilers also need to play a more disciplined game – they allowed Vancouver to have six power plays, which led to three goals – to help out their goaltenders. Even still, Campbell and Skinner didn't do nearly enough Wednesday, and Saturday will be an important rebound opportunity for whoever starts.

The oddsmakers seem confident in Edmonton's ability to bounce back with the Canucks being treated as an underdog, though FanDuel is offering a tantalizingly good +115 price for taking the Oilers on the puck line at the time of this writing.

With this game being in Edmonton and the Oilers being hungry for revenge, I expect this to be a significantly different contest.

I think it's valid to be concerned about Edmonton's goaltending situation and optimistic about Demko's chances of bouncing back in 2023-24, but at the end of the day, Edmonton's raw offensive power should push the Oilers to victory more often than not, especially versus a team like Vancouver.

I feel comfortable taking Edmonton on the puck line.