EDMONTON — Edmonton Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch was happy with his team’s start to exhibition play, especially considering not a single player in his lineup on Sunday played with the club during its lengthy recent playoff run.
Defenceman Cam Dineen scored the overtime winner and added an assist as the Oilers started NHL pre-season play with a 3-2 victory over the Winnipeg Jets.
Sam O’Reilly and Raphael Lavoie also scored for the Oilers (1-0) who are coming off their devastating loss in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final against the Florida Panthers.
“A lot of guys played really well,” Knoblauch said. “The defensive corps, all six of them played really well, obviously highlighted by Dineen.
“I can go through the lineup and I thought a lot of guys played really well.”
Making a strong first impression with his first goal was O’Reilly, who the Oilers traded up to select 32nd overall in the 2024 NHL entry draft.
“I tried to come in with a good mindset, to stay positive and stick to myself and what I do, but obviously going out there and seeing all those people, you get a little nervous,” O’Reilly said. “But you have to shake it off and just play hockey.
“It gave me confidence getting that first goal pretty early. It feels good and I will try to keep building off of that.”
David Gustafsson and Dominic Toninato scored for the Jets, who dropped to 0-1-1 in exhibition action.
“Both teams dressed some younger lineups and it’s great for them, we got to see last night, I think we had six or seven that had never played in an NHL game and it’s great for them to do that,” said Jets head coach Scott Arniel.
“It was sloppy at times, some of the execution was off, but at the end of the day, it came down to an OT game for the fans and it was fun.”
Winnipeg scored on the game’s first shot just 17 seconds in, as Gustafsson tipped a Logan Stanley point shot past Oilers goaltender Olivier Rodrigue.
The Oilers responded with a goal on their first shot of the contest as well, as O’Reilly took a stretch pass from Dineen and split the defence up the middle before beating Jets starter Eric Comrie, the goal coming 3:23 into the first.
The shots were only 6-4 for Edmonton through the opening 20 minutes.
Collin Delia, who spent last season with the Jets' AHL affiliate the Manitoba Moose, came in to replace Rodrigue in the Edmonton net midway through the second.
There was no scoring in the second period, with Edmonton leading 19-9 on the shot clock heading into the third.
Edmonton finally broke the deadlock midway through the third on the power play as Lavoie sent a one-timer from the top of the left circle past Comrie.
That lead only lasted 10 seconds, however, as the Jets knotted the game when Kevin He sent the puck out in front to Toninato and he hammered it past Delia, eventually sending the game to extra time.
Edmonton scored the winner 1:17 into overtime after a big hit by Vasily Podkolzin created a two-on-one and Dineen lugged the puck down ice before cutting across and sending a snap shot past Comrie.
NOTES
Both teams dressed squads extremely light on NHL experience, most players having spent all or the majority of their time in the AHL last season … A pair of veterans on the Oilers roster were both of their players on personal tryout offers, forward Mike Hoffman and defenceman Travis Dermott. … The Jets were playing for the second night in a row, having lost 5-2 to the Minnesota Wild on Saturday in the Manitoba capital. Kaapo Kahkonen made 23 saves in the loss in his Jets debut. … Comrie, an Edmonton native, made his first start in a Jets jersey since May 1, 2022, as he auditioned for a backup role with the team. “I just want to battle as hard as I can,” Comrie said. “The special word here is compete and I want to make sure I compete as hard as I can and do what I can to make the decision (on backup) as hard as I can (for coaches).”
UP NEXT
Oilers: Play home-and-home split squad games against the Calgary Flames on Monday.
Jets: Host the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 22, 2024.
Shane Jones, The Canadian Press