The Canucks and Oilers face off tonight for their first matchup of the season. The Oilers are 4 - 2 - 1 and the Canucks are 3 - 4 -0 to start the year, with both teams coming off victories over the lowly Minnesota Wild.
The Canucks peppered Wild goaltender Nicklas Backstrom and were able to pull out a 2 - 1 win on home ice despite the Wild getting some incredible goaltending. Roberto Luongo wasn't extremely busy but he did look sharp when the Canucks needed him, especially on the Penalty Kill.
The Oilers have some young guns that are playing well right now, Gilbert Brule seems to have found his game as he has started the year with 4 goals and 3 assists in 7 games. Dustin Penner seems to be living up to his paycheque for the time being as he has gotten off to a solid start as well.
As for the Canucks, they'll need to get continuous production from Ryan Kesler, Alex Burrows and Henrik Sedin in order to battle through this stretch of injuries. It's time for the Canucks young players to start making an impact as well, Michael Grabner will need to start converting on his chances and Mason Raymond will need to do the same. Raymond was flying on Saturday night, but he'll need to do more than just speed up and down the wing.
The Canucks look for their first points and first win on the road tonight at Rexall Place in Edmonton.
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