Garland, of all people, jabbed at Calvin Pickard when the Oilers goalie had the puck covered midway through the second period, which ignited a scrum behind the net. Perry quickly got involved. He was about to grab Canucks centre Elias Pettersson until he saw defenceman Quinn Hughes, who’d come in off his point, without a dance partner.

Hyman put Edmonton ahead 1-0 at 5:52 of the first period, taking a long lead pass from Draisaitl up the left boards at the blue line, cutting across at the dot while keeping Hronek on his back and scoring glove side on Demko.

There is probably no explaining this season, at least not yet, not until we have put some time between what’s happening and our efforts to understand, but we have to anyway. Listen, no one came into this season thinking these Vancouver Canucks were true cup contenders.