After the longest off-season we’ve had in years, the Edmonton Oilers were finally back on Rogers Place ice for the season opener against the lowly Vancouver Canucks. Despite basically everyone on earth expecting the Oilers to win this hockey game, a disastrous performance in net left the door open just enough for the Canucks to luck out with a 6-5 overtime win. We are so back.

FELT GOOD TO BE BACK

Despite the crippling loss, did it ever feel good to be back at Rogers Place for a game that actually mattered again. Admittedly, I was pretty bummed when I got to the ol’ barn and remembered that the Oilers were starting their season without Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Jason Dickinson, and Matt Savoie, because missing three guys from your top nine is a kick to the shin that none of us needed, but those feelings disappeared quickly once I got in there. Once I found the hilarious construction vest waiting on my seat, grabbed a beer, and settled in for the intro, it was like playing through injuries to start the year was how things were meant to be. After the longest off-season we’ve had around here in years, I was more than ready to have hockey back.

Getting back to yelling about line combos, defensive coverage, and whatever else was about to happen was the part I was probably looking forward to most. We’ve had months to pick apart the first-round exit, talk about the new coach, argue about what went wrong, and wonder what this version of the Oilers is going to look like. At some point, we all run out of things to yell about and just need the damned season to get going. So sitting at Rogers Place again with the building full, the music cranked, an overpriced beer in my hand, and an actual meaningful game in front of us felt like home. As it turns out, this first game of the year felt a lot like the ones we watched last year. Yeah, there are going to be plenty of ups and downs over the course of the next six months, but having the Oilers back doing their thing was exactly what the body needed. I was ready for this team to dictate my mood again, and boy did they kick off the year with a banger. We are so back.

THE TRISTAN JARRY NARRATIVE 

Tristan Jarry was a disaster. What else are we supposed to say? I spent all summer saying Jarry had a chance to be better than what we saw after the trade, and then he opened the season by giving up six goals on 23 shots with a .739 save percentage. On a night when the vibes were about as high as they can get, it’s hard not to feel like he dropped a turd on the dance floor right when things were getting good. And when you give up six, there are plenty of reasons to be annoyed, but the three unanswered in the third period were the part that really pissed me off because the Oilers had clearly played well enough to win. I’m not saying the boys were perfect in front of him by any stretch, but Edmonton controlled most of the game, and instead of getting the saves they needed to close it out, Jarry gave Vancouver enough life to close out a win they had no business getting.

And unfortunately, losses like that are what Oilers fans are going to remember. Edmonton scored five goals. They pushed the game to overtime with some late-game heroics, carried the play for long stretches, and were once again, forced to outscore their goaltending. Yes, there were odd-man rushes and a breakaway goal that need to get cleaned up, but there has to be a point when this team gets the saves they need to cover that shit up. Instead, we’re right back talking about the same damned problem that has plagued this team for years. Maybe I’ve got a kink for punishment or something, but I still believe Jarry is better than the goalie we saw last season. That said, this was an awful first step toward proving it. If the Oilers are going to cash in their Stanley Cup dreams this year, they cannot be asking the offence to score six every night just to survive, especially against a garbage hockey team like the Vancouver Canucks. I know it’s only one game and one bad start, but there’s no doubt a night like that won’t do much good for quieting down the Tristan Jarry narratives around here any time soon.

EVAN BOUCHARD, BIG STUD ENERGY

If there was an obvious silver lining to take away from Tuesday night, it was the offensive clinic put on by Evan Bouchard. The guy was ridiculous. Hat trick, two assists, five points, six shots, 25:41 of ice time, and a +2 on a night where the Oilers gave up six. Not only was he creating offence basically every time he touched the puck, but he factored in on every single goal his team scored. And when that third one went in, you can bet your ass that my beloved Riverhawks hat went flying. Sure, it took multiple people to finally get that thing on the ice, but it got there eventually. I love throwing hats for hat tricks, and I was sure that it was going to be a good omen for when Bouchard popped his third. Of course, throwing a hat in a loss may seem ridiculous in hindsight, but in the moment, it felt like the only responsible thing to do.

And on a night when the wheels fell off in the same way we’ve seen so many times before, I don’t want to make everything doom and gloom after one game, especially when Bouchard opened the year looking like he took that Norris Trophy loss to heart. He was aggressive, he was getting pucks through traffic, and he looked completely comfortable jumping into the play whenever the Canucks gave him a lane. Five points from number one d-man is a hell of a start, and if we’re doing the very serious opening-night math, he’s on pace for more than 400 points. And you know what? I say he gets there. But seriously, though, if this is the version of Bouchard we’re getting this year, that’s a massive positive to take away from an otherwise annoying loss on the board. The result may not have gone the way we want, but you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who cheers for this team who wasn’t impressed with what Dad got done out there. On a night when most of the team was quiet, Evan Bouchard was electric. And that’s something I don’t want people to forget, even though the reason the Oilers lost was yet another chapter in the same disappointing story. It wasn’t all bad, friends.

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