The Edmonton Oilers were mere minutes from writing another unfortunate entry in the Atlanta Falcons Journal of Blown Multi-score Leads.
If you don't know what that is, it's the next docuseries focusing on some of the most humiliating blown multi-score leads in sports history. It might even rival The Mike Babcock Saga when all is said and done.
Ultimately, the Oilers avoided total humiliation with a 9-7 win (yes, that's not a baseball score or a low-scoring primetime football game) over the Vancouver Canucks.
Here are some of the biggest takeaways from the win and a mini-rant about the near-collapse.
Is Vasily Podkolzin the next superstar member of the Oilers' forward group?
We are only two contests into an 84-game campaign, so time will truly tell in this regard.
But it seems that Vasily Podkolzin could be putting together a strong start to the campaign and a potential case to establish himself as the next big-name scoring option alongside the likes of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl.
After putting a two-goal game together against the Canucks on Tuesday, Podkolzin added another goal to kickstart the Oilers' offensive masterclass on Thursday. Later in the game, he would add an assist on Draisaitl's second goal of the game, which essentially acted as the insurance marker.
Last season, Podkolzin announced himself as a key member of the Oilers forward when he nearly doubled his point total from the 2024-25 campaign. If this season is any indication, his offensive contributions could very well propel him from simply being a middle-six forward to superstar status.
And with the likes of Zach Hyman and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins on the sidelines with injuries, the Oilers need Podkolzin to maintain that strong early-season form.
More early domination
Like on Tuesday, the Oilers got going very quickly during Thursday's road contest against the Canucks.
Unlike Tuesday's season-opener, that early domination came on both ends of the ice.
In particular, the Oilers held the Canucks without a shot on goal for 12 minutes. Even then, the first shot on goal recorded by the Canucks was from a zone clearance that deflected off the boards towards goaltender Devon Levi, so we can't entirely fault Edmonton's defense on that.
Besides the shot count, the Oilers did well to break up Vancouver's offensive zone chances (Mattias Ekholm recorded a nifty interception to eliminate a two-on-one opportunity) and the breakaways were essentially non-existent.
Offensively, the door was really forced open when Podkolzin scored his first of the night. Additional offensive zone pressure from the Oilers eventually yielded the second goal of the night from rookie Owen Michaels. Only seconds after that goal, Evan Bouchard recorded his fourth goal of the season off a turnover, and the Oilers earned a power play shortly after as a result of a dirty hit against the boards on Colton Dach from Canucks defenseman Luke Schenn.
Ryan Shea scored his first goal as an Oiler just before the first intermission; by that point, the shots were 15-2 in favor of Edmonton.
Uhhhhhhh ... goaltending? Are things OK?
I'll admit that I might have gotten ahead of myself by saying that both the offense and the defense had dominant performances on Thursday.
That said, I won't go anywhere near as far as to say as the defensive play wasn't top notch. After all, it's extremely hard to argue that a defensive performance that includes two short-handed goals in one numerical disadvantage and four shots on goal conceded in 30 minutes played isn't at least close to top notch.
The goaltending should still be the point of concern despite the improved performance. There was a point in the game where Levi gave up two goals on four shots faced, which is equal to a .500 save percentage. By game's end, he gave up seven goals on 22 shots faced for a .682 save percentage.
While there is reason to be concerned about the defense, I would argue that the blue-line wasn't remotely close to the problem. If you're a goaltender and the team in front of you is giving up less than 25 shots per game (the league average in that metric last season was 27.6 shots against per game), there is no excuse for giving up seven goals, let alone more than a reasonable amount.
That said, the entire 60-minute effort needs work
Once again, I'm not going to rant about the defensive effort for what happened later in the game. Edmonton did enough early in the game on that end of the ice to ensure the win, even with the comeback in mind.
I'm also not going to criticize the offense; personally speaking, nine goals scored in a game should exempt an offense from criticism concerning other parts of the game.
I've also made my thoughts clear about the goaltending, which is now an issue for the I've-run-out-of-fingers-on-one-hand-to-count-eenth season.
Mike Babcock might decimate the effort and humiliate a few players in doing so for what happened post-10 minutes left in the second period. But what he said after the game hit all the right notes: though the defensive effort was far better (especially in terms of the breakaways), the effort towards the end of the game has to be stronger.
We can't fault the Oilers for going up 8-2, and it's normal for teams to remove some pressure from the gas pedal when leading by that margin and especially with more than half a game to play. But the way in which the Oilers turned an 8-2 game into a 9-7 barnburner isn't something that is necessarily commonplace, and the Oilers have to make sure that doesn't happen again.
What's next?
The Oilers will return to Rogers Place for a contest against the Seattle Kraken on Saturday night. Puck drop is set for 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time.
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