The Manny Malhotra era for the Vancouver Canucks is off to a positive start, even if it was a lot closer than it looked like it was going to be.
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it → look → start
Paul Cotter had a pair of goals, including the overtime winner, as the Canucks got off to a much better start to this season than the way they closed out the last, holding on to defeat the Edmonton Oilers 6-5 on Tuesday.
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they → have → Tuesday
“It’s the first game, so maybe not the cleanest game but I think we were resilient,” said Canucks defenceman Jamie Oleksiak.
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Oleksiak → ’ → ?
“I think as the game went on, we handled the pressure well and we responded when they had their push.
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they → think → push
I think there are some good things to take away, and a couple things we can clean up as well.
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we → think → ?
“It’s a great feeling in the room.
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It → ’ → room
I think we’re going to enjoy tonight and then get back at it tomorrow.
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we → think → it
That’s the key to good teams, you can’t get too high or too low.
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you → ’ → teams
You want to stay consistent, you want to stay level-headed.”
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you → want → ?
Marco Rossi, Jonathan Lekkerimaki, Max Sasson and Elias Pettersson also scored for the Canucks (1-0-0) who are coming off a last-place finish in the NHL last season with a paltry 25-49-8 record.
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who → score → record
Tied 2-2 after 40 minutes, the Canucks piled in three goals in four minutes to start the third.
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Canucks → tie → third
However, the Oilers battled back and got a goal with 43 seconds left to force overtime, where Cotter scored 1:59 into extra time.
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Cotter → battle → time
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“There’s definitely some areas we want to clean up,” said Pettersson.
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Pettersson → get → news
“If we’re up by a three-goal lead in the third, then we should definitely be able to win it.
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we → ’re → it
We won it, regardless, in overtime, but there’s some stuff we can clean up.
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we → win → overtime
But we’re very happy with the win.”
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we → ’re → win
Cotter, who joined Vancouver as a free agent after the last two seasons in New Jersey, became the first player in Canucks history to score a short-handed goal in his debut with the team on the game’s opening goal as well as the first to score an overtime winner in his franchise debut.
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who → join → debut
He is the sixth player in Canucks history to have a multi-goal performance in his initial game with the team.
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He → have → team
He also joined Brendan Shanahan as the only players in NHL history to score a short-handed goal and an OT goal in a season opener.
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He → join → opener
Kevin Lankinen made 32 stops to earn the win.
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Lankinen → make → win
“Not the way we drew it up, for sure,” said Canucks head coach Malhotra.
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Malhotra → draw → it
Obviously, we don’t want to give up three in the third period, that’s something that we’ll definitely need to work on.
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we → want → that
But just the resiliency to stay with it for us was a huge factor in the game.
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resiliency → stay → game
And then guys stepping up in big ways.
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guys → step → ways
“Lanks made some key saves, especially down the stretch there.
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Lanks → make → stretch
And our (penalty) kill did the job throughout the course of the game against, obviously, an elite power play and limiting them as much as we did, was good.
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we → do → them
But just overall, the joy of winning a game takes precedent right now.”
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joy → win → precedent
Malhotra became the fourth person to represent the Canucks as both a player and head coach in his career, following in the footsteps of Marc Crawford, Pat Quinn and Orland Kurtenbach.
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Malhotra → become → Crawford
“There was a lot of momentum swings, energy swings on the bench,” said Malhotra.
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Malhotra → be → bench
“Just the overall pace of the game, trying to make sure I was keeping an eye on who was on the ice when they were on the ice.
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they → try → ice
There was a lot of moving parts, but it was definitely a fun one to coach.”
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it → be → parts
The two teams have a rematch in Vancouver on Thursday.
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teams → have → Thursday
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 29, 2026.
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report → publish → Press
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