Cole McWard didn’t look that out of place with Quinn Hughes on the top pairing. McWard took a penalty in the first period but for the most part, was able to get the puck to Hughes with good accuracy on his passes. The two worked well in the offensive zone and Hughes was especially good in the defensive zone. Hughes used body positioning and a quick stick to be aggressive at his one blue line and disrupted a ton of Oilers’ entry attempts throughout the game.

Hughes also scored the first goal of the preseason as he fired a shot from the point that took a friendly bounce and beat Stuart Skinner in the second period to give the Canucks a 1-0 lead.

Another player who impressed was Arshdeep Bains, who didn’t get into any NHL games last season but seemed to fit in well with Aatu Räty and Conor Garland on the Canucks’ third line. Bains saw time on both the power play as well as the penalty kill and didn’t have much flash to his game but he consistently made good decisions with the puck and worked hard to force turnovers and finish his hits.

We keep saying this more and more but Bains is going to play NHL games, and it may be sooner than we expected.

Other positives

• Jack Studnicka looks like he added a step in the offseason or is just skating much harder as he tries to earn a spot on the Canucks’ opening night roster.
• Andrei Kuzmenko had a few flashes of exciting offensive plays as he attacked the net well at five-on-five but wasn’t as effective on the left half-wall of the power play.
• Teddy Blueger looks like understands how to be a good penalty killer. This is great news for the new #53.
• Casey DeSmith was solid throughout the game. Nothing amazing but nothing bad.
• Dakota Joshua heard Rick Tocchet’s message loud and clear — he was much more physical in this game after a tough game one of the preseason.
• Nils Åman took a beating but kept on coming throughout the game. He took a slash in the back of the leg from Leon Draisaitl and the Canucks ended up scoring on the ensuing power play.
• Elias Pettersson was very good in the faceoff dot — winning 80% of he draws on the night.
• Christian Wolanin was solid defensively throughout the game and moved the puck well. If he keeps playing like this, he will be in the opening night lineup.

Now it’s your turn to sound off in the comments as we put together our postgame report.

What did you like or dislike about the Canucks in this game?