Woodcroft: Oilers played at 'preseason level' in blowout loss to Canucks

Edmonton Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft said his club wasn't prepared to start their highly-anticipated season opener after an 8-1 drubbing at the hands of the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday.

"We laid an egg tonight; we all own it," Woodcroft said. "We're all in this one together. The bottom line is we were at a preseason level of work ethic and a preseason level of execution, all of us. We got a lesson in regular-season work ethic and regular-season battle level."

He added, "I saw us lose a ton of battles. Things that normally are hallmarks of our game did not show up."

The Oilers trailed 4-0 less than 10 minutes into the second period. Jack Campbell was replaced between the pipes by Stuart Skinner at that point, but neither goalie found success, each allowing four goals on 16 shots.

"We hung both guys out to dry tonight," captain Connor McDavid said, per Sportsnet's Mark Spector. "We have to learn from this rout."

"Not sure how to explain that start to the season," he added.

Edmonton was a popular pick to compete for the Stanley Cup this year on the strength of McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, along with some revamped depth. There's plenty of time for the Oilers to correct what went wrong in their first game, and the first opportunity comes Saturday with a rematch against the Canucks.

Copyright (C) 2023 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.