The Oilers just did the Canucks a favor, whether they meant to or not

Saturday in Vancouver turned from a tight start into a total blowout.

Edmonton scored six times in the second period and rolled to a 6-0 win while Jarry stopped 31 shots.

The night also came with real-life weight, because Leon Draisaitl was out on a leave of absence to attend to a family illness in Germany.

It was his first missed game of the season, and the lineup had to reshuffle on the fly.

That's where the «depth» part stops being a slogan and becomes the story.

Jack Roslovic and Kasperi Kapanen each scored twice, Zach Hyman added a power-play goal, and Vasily Podkolzin capped the second-period avalanche.

Edmonton didn't win with fancy, they won with layers.

Pucks went to the net, bodies went to the blue paint, and the Canucks looked deflated once the game cracked open.

For an Oilers fan, this is the kind of win that makes you breathe again, because it proves the team can flex without its safety blanket.

Kapanen even said it felt like everyone stepped up, and you could see it shift by shift.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins slid into the middle, Podkolzin climbed the lineup, and the group just kept pushing pace.

Jarry's part matters, too, because the game still has to be closed.

NHL.com called it his first shutout as an Oiler, the 23rd of his career, and his second of the season after he'd missed time with a lower-body injury.

On the season, ESPN has Jarry at 12-3-2 with a .903 save percentage and a 2.73 goals-against average, and Saturday was exactly the calm, no-drama start Edmonton hoped it was buying.

Vancouver, meanwhile, is now 0-8-2 in its last 10 and looks like a team living in survival mode.

Edmonton's next milestone is carrying this into Sunday, when Nugent-Hopkins hits Game 1000 and the room can give him a win to remember.