It was the best of games, it was the worst of games.

An opening night that started out with such joy and promise for the new-look Edmonton Oilers — the home team romping out to a 3-0 lead over Calgary in the first 30 minutes — ended up in a crushing face plant Wednesday night.

A 4-3 defeat? Fans left Rogers Place feeling like they’d been sucker punched by Georges Laraque.

What happened? Here are the Good Bad and Ugly of that opening night fumble.

THE GOOD

• The power play scored two goals on its first two chances, staking Edmonton the early lead. This team relies heavily, maybe too heavily, on the man advantage, but having their nuclear weapon fine tuned bodes well for the season.

• Former Flame Andrew Mangiapane scored a nice snipe into the top corner and showed well enough that they moved up to the first line with the game on the line in the third period. This is a good start for a player who was fading a little bit last year in Washington. Maybe he finds another offensive gear in Edmonton the same way Zach Hyman did.

• A goal and two assist for Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. The 32-year-old has been trending down offensively but he was all over it in the home opener, playing 19 minutes and registering three shots on net. That was a nice start to the season for a guy whose point total over the last three years are 104, 67 and 49.

• Shot suppression. Edmonton held Calgary to just eight shots through 30 minutes and outshot them 35-22 on the night. Even without Jake Walman in the lineup yet, this defence is tight.

• Leon Draisaitl scored his 400th goal. Nice milestone for a third overall pick who is going to reach 1,000 points later this season.

• In his first ever NHL game, David Tomasek didn’t look at all out of place filling in for Hyman on Edmonton’s power play. He slid a nice, no-look backhand pass to Draisaitl for an easy tap in on the second power play goal. Solid debut. Too bad about the two minor penalties, though.

THE BAD

• With the Oilers up 3-0 and 7:28 to go in the second period, Darnell Nurse tries an unsuccessful one-on-three rush just inside the Calgary blue line, resulting in an easy turnover. The puck goes the other way, with the Oilers caught up ice, and the quick transition results in a fluke goal. Calgary is back in the game. Just get it deep in that situation.

• These are supposed to be the new-look Oilers, but Game 1 of the season featured more of the same for this team. Draisaitl, Nugent-Hopkins and Connor McDavid were on the ice for all three of Edmonton’s goals, Stuart Skinner let in a really bad one and the power play accounted for two-thirds of Edmonton’s offence.

• You have to put the hammer down when you’re up 3-0 at home. Choke out the visitors and call it a night. Failing that, after Calgary tied it early in the third period the Oilers had 19 minutes to score a goal, to bail out their goalie and to save the day. They couldn’t get it done.

• Video review is supposed to get it right. The second Calgary goal from Connor Zary was clearly a high stick. When you get to pour over slow motion video reviews and you still get it wrong that’s a problem,

THE UGLY

Skinner looked terrible on the tying goal, freezing up with the puck at his feet and allowing Blake Coleman to waltz it and poke in home. Something like that really lets the air out of a building and a team.

But blaming the entire game on one goal is a lazy narrative.

Skinner’s blunder 40 seconds into the third period isn’t the reason Edmonton lost. But it is the reason they didn’t win.

And it continues his tradition of rough opening nights.

Skinner started the opener last year against Winnipeg and got the hook after giving up five goals on 13 shots in 31:08. Edmonton went on to lose 6-0 and Skinner went 2-4-1 in his first seven games.

Two years ago, Skinner came in in relief late in the second period against Vancouver after Jack Campbell allowed four goals on 16 shots. Skinner also allowed four goals on 16 shots in an 8-1 loss and went 1-5-1 in his next seven starts.

When they were introducing the Oilers coaching staff on opening night, new goaltending coach Peter Aubry got the loudest applause. That gives you an idea of the patience level fans have with the goaltending here.

It’s only one play in one game, there are 81 to go and Skinner has shown in the past that he has the mental strength to shake something like this off, but it’s a tough start to an important year.

E-mail: rtychkowski@postmedia.com

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