OILERS 5, CANUCKS 2

David Perron scored a shorthanded goal while Ryan Smyth, Nail Yakupov and Will Acton buried late scores in the third to drive the Oilers to a 5-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks in pre-season play tonight.Mike Santorelli opened scoring for the Canucks when he slipped past the Oilers defence and shot a wrister five-hole on Jason LaBarbera. Santorelli’s goal was assisted by defenceman Yannick Weber.The Oilers began to find their offensive groove when Jordan Eberle nearly connected with Sam Gagner in front of the Canucks net.Edmonton newcomer Anton Belov carried the puck up the left wing and fired a picture perfect pass to a streaking Ryan Smyth. Smyth sprung free on the breakaway by his shot was swallowed up by the pads of Eddie Lack.Oilers star forward Taylor Hall took a hit to the head roughly seven minutes into the game, giving his team a five-on-three power play for two minutes. Dale Weise was the offender for the Canucks and he’d have to answer for the hit.After the penalty expired, Mike Brown threw down the gloves to tango with Weise. The two exchanged blows before Brown would lose his footing ending the tilt.Then, Eberle worked the puck into the Canucks zone and passed it behind the net to the left of the Vancouver goaltender. Perron then set up a pass across the face of Lack and Sam Gagner was there back door, gave one swipe at the puck and found twine. The goal at 12:59 tied the game at one.Oilers Head Coach Dallas Eakins has preached aggressive penalty killing leading to offensive opportunities since day one of training camp. His second penalty kill unit did just that when they scored shorthanded 4:13 into the second period.Taylor Fedun shot the puck on Lack who made the initial save and trapped the puck under his pads. Ryan Hamilton poked at it and the puck jumped out to Perron who saw the opening and struck giving the Oilers the 2-1 lead.LaBarbera would exit the game in the second, finishing his night with eight saves on nine shots for the Oilers. He made way for professional tryout rookie Ty Rimmer.Rimmer flashed the glove on his first solid scoring opportunity by the Canucks and then continued to make big saves late in the game. He would finish the contest with 10 savesDavid Perron scored a shorthanded goal while Ryan Smyth, Nail Yakupov and Will Acton buried late scores in the third to drive the Oilers to a 5-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks in pre-season play tonight.Mike Santorelli opened scoring for the Canucks when he slipped past the Oilers defence and shot a wrister five-hole on Jason LaBarbera. Santorelli’s goal was assisted by defenceman Yannick Weber.The Oilers began to find their offensive groove when Jordan Eberle nearly connected with Sam Gagner in front of the Canucks net.Edmonton newcomer Anton Belov carried the puck up the left wing and fired a picture perfect pass to a streaking Ryan Smyth. Smyth sprung free on the breakaway by his shot was swallowed up by the pads of Eddie Lack.Oilers star forward Taylor Hall took a hit to the head roughly seven minutes into the game, giving his team a five-on-three power play for two minutes. Dale Weise was the offender for the Canucks and he’d have to answer for the hit.After the penalty expired, Mike Brown threw down the gloves to tango with Weise. The two exchanged blows before Brown would lose his footing ending the tilt.“Hockey gets to be a tough game some nights, but I did like our response," said Oilers Head Coach Dallas Eakins. "Brown was good the one time… You just don’t want one guy to look after that, you need a big scrum. If one guy’s getting pushed around, you want all five of your guys in there and I thought we responded well.”Then, Eberle worked the puck into the Canucks zone and passed it behind the net to the left of the Vancouver goaltender. Perron then set up a pass across the face of Lack and Sam Gagner was there back door, gave one swipe at the puck and found twine. The goal at 12:59 tied the game at one.Oilers Head Coach Dallas Eakins has preached aggressive penalty killing leading to offensive opportunities since day one of training camp. His second penalty kill unit did just that when they scored shorthanded 4:13 into the second period.Taylor Fedun shot the puck on Lack who made the initial save and trapped the puck under his pads. Ryan Hamilton poked at it and the puck jumped out to Perron who saw the opening and struck giving the Oilers the 2-1 lead.LaBarbera would exit the game in the second, finishing his night with eight saves on nine shots for the Oilers. He made way for professional tryout rookie Ty Rimmer.Rimmer flashed the glove on his first solid scoring opportunity by the Canucks and then continued to make big saves late in the game. He would finish the contest with 10 saves.“It was awesome,” said the Edmonton native, Rimmer. “It was a great opportunity obviously and to play in front of a hometown crowd like that, it was something special and something I’m going to remember for the rest of my life.”Ryan Smyth made it 3-1 Oilers with 4:02 left in the game when he scooped up a loose puck in deep and scored. Vancouver would respond.The Canucks drew back within one when Jannik Hansen scored on a delayed penalty.Then with 2:33 remaining in the game, Jujhar Khaira spun around behind the Canucks net and set up Nail Yakupov perfectly for the Oilers fourth goal.An empty netter by Will Acton would seal the deal and the Oilers would run away with a 5-2 win.