The best thing about the Edmonton Oilers pre-season turned out to be a goal against.

It meant that it was over.

Eight long games after it started, the Oilers marathon exhibition schedule ground to a merciful conclusion Friday night in a 3-2 overtime (of course) loss to the Vancouver Canucks .

Conor Garland scored 90 seconds into the extra period to close the book on Edmonton’s training camp. The Oilers, for what it’s worth, finished 4-2-2 after playing maximum allowable games.

And it wasn’t especially pretty. Icing a lineup that will be very close to their opening night roster, the Oilers were just OK in a contest their coach considered rather messy considering how deep they are into the process.

That’s not a great sign for a team in transition, with a lot of new and young faces,

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