Vancouver Canucks at Edmonton Oilers

Paul Cotter scores in OT as the Canucks beat the Oilers 6-5 in the opener

Marco Rossi, Jonathan Lekkerimaki, Max Sasson and Elias Pettersson also scored for the Canucks, who are coming off a last-place finish in the NHL last season with a 25-49-8 record.

Kevin Lankinen made 32 stops.

Evan Bouchard had three goals and two assists and Vasily Podkolzin scored twice for the Oilers. Tristan Jarry made 17 saves for Edmonton.

Entering the third period tied 2-2, Pettersson capped a three-goal run by the Canucks 5:15 into the frame to swiftly put the Canucks ahead 5-2.

But Podkolzin scored at 8:56, followed by Bouchard’s third of the night 24 seconds later and Podkolzin’s second of the night with 43 seconds left in regulation to send it to extra time.

Cotter, who joined Vancouver as a free agent after spending 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.

Bouchard is the first defenseman in Oilers history to record a multigoal game in a season opener and just the third defenseman in NHL history to score a hat trick in an opener. He is also just the third blue-liner in the last 30 years to have at least four points in a game to open the season.

Canucks head coach Manny 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.

Up next Canucks: Host the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday.

Oilers: At the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday.

See AP’s full NHL coverage here

VAN leads series 1-0