McDavid lifts Oilers to 5-3 win to open season
By Riley Neilson on October 13, 2022
It certainly wasn’t the start the Oilers were looking for, but they will take the win to open the season. The Oilers were down 2-0 five minutes in and 3-0 less than a minute into the second. Leon Draisaitl got the oilers on the board less than five minutes later, which got the Canucks frustrated as Quinn Hughes took a high stick to the face, which went uncalled seconds before Leon scored.
McDavid followed it up with his first of three on the night with a perfect tic-tac-toe execution in which every player touched the puck in six seconds after Vancouver took a too-many-men penalty. Darnel Nurse tied the game with less than a minute left in the second on a shorthanded three on one to tie the game at three.
The game remained tied for 15 minutes when Connor McDavid scored on his rebound to give him his second of the game and 700th career point. This makes McDavid the sixth fastest player to 700 points. McDavid iced the game with the hat trick into an empty net. McDavid now has the most career points for the Oilers in season openers and is the third player to record multiple hat tricks in season openers, as he also scored a hat trick in 2017.
Jack Campbell was sharp in net, making 33 saves and going out of his crease to get the puck away from Dakota Joshua on a breakaway in the third period.
The slow start was understandable as before the game; the Oilers paid tribute to late super fan Ben Stelter who died over the summer at six due to cancer. After the video, the jumbotron showed that Ben’s family was at the game and in tears; shouts of Ben started to echo through the arena as a whole chant broke out before finishing with a fan shouting out, “We love you.” Cheering broke out, ending the bittersweet ceremony.