Edmonton Oilers at Vancouver Canucks: NHL Odds, Prediction

Ricky Rothstein
Last Updated: November 6, 2017

The Vancouver Canucks will be the final team to open the 2017-18 NHL season when they host Western Conference favourite Edmonton on Saturday night. It’s the first of four regular-season meetings between the Pacific Division rivals, with Edmonton a big road betting favourite at Sports Interaction.

Edmonton Oilers at Vancouver Canucks

When: Saturday, 10 p.m. ET
Where: Rogers Arena, Vancouver
Moneylines: Oilers -170, Canucks +155 (5)

NHL Odds and Betting Analysis

The Oilers and Canucks met five times last season, and Edmonton was at least a -220 favourite in the final four games when it became clear the Oilers were Western Conference contenders and that it was going to be a long season for Vancouver. The Oilers won four of the five; the lone Canucks victory was on New Year’s Eve in Edmonton, 3-2 in a shootout. Vancouver didn’t score more than two goals in any of the other four.

Connor McDavid led the Oilers with six points (3G, 3 A) against Vancouver in 2016-17. Leon Draisaitl had a goal and four assists, and Jordan Eberle had four goals. Cam Talbot was 3-0-1 with a 0.98 GAA and .967 save percentage. Bo Horvat led Vancouver with just three points, all assists. No Canuck had more than one goal vs. the Oilers. Three different guys – Jacob Markstrom, Ryan Miller and Richard Bachman – started in net. Markstrom was in there for the lone victory, and he’s the likely No. 1 netminder this year.

Edmonton is +153 to win the Pacific and +350 to take the West. Vancouver is +3500 and +7500, respectively.

Edmonton Oilers

The Oilers were -150 favourites in their season opener Wednesday vs. Calgary and won 3-0. McDavid opened defense of his Hart Trophy in style with a hat trick, the first player in franchise history to record one in the season opener and the fifth in league history with a natural hat trick in an opener (last was Radim Vrbata in 2013 with the Coyotes vs. the Rangers). Draisaitl added two assists, and Talbot made 26 saves in the shutout. Talbot had career highs of seven shutouts and 42 wins in 2016-17. Edmonton outshot Calgary 45-26.

Vancouver Canucks

The Canucks continue to rebuild after finishing with just 69 points last season, better than only Colorado in the NHL. Vancouver went a league-worst 7-23-3 over its final 33 games — a 42-point pace over a full season – and lost its final eight. Predictably, that cost coach Willie Desjardins his job. This will be the NHL head-coaching debut of Travis Green. He had been the coach of the Canucks’ AHL affiliate in Utica the past four seasons. Green also played 14 seasons in the NHL, including a few with the Maple Leafs.

The Canucks ranked 29th on offense and on the power play last year. The big offseason addition was free-agent center Sam Gagner, who had 18 goals and 32 assists with Columbus. Just this week, the Canucks acquired young defenseman Derrick Pouliot from Pittsburgh in a trade. Pouliot was the No. 8 overall in the 2012 draft but hasn’t lived up to expectations yet. He’s only 23.