Canucks surprise with 5-4 comeback win over Oilers

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A 4-1 lead, halfway through a hockey game, usually provides ample leeway to ride out a victory. But on Wednesday night in Vancouver, it wasn’t enough for Edmonton, as the Oilers stumbled their way out of a commanding Game 1 win into a jarring 5-4 loss to the underdog Canucks.

Edmonton had been heavily favoured in the all-Canadian second-round NHL playoff series and showed why in the early going. But from the start of the third period, up 4-2, Edmonton didn’t even manage a shot on net until they had squandered their lead and fallen behind. The frenzy at Rogers Arena escalated through the third period. It was booming when Vancouver’s Conor Garland scored what would stand as the winning goal – the Canucks’ third in five minutes.

After the loss, Oilers captain Connor McDavid struggled to explain exactly what went wrong. Of anyone in this series, it is the 27-year-old who has the most at stake. He’s the best player in the league yet in his ninth season has never been able to carry his team to the Stanley Cup.

In this year’s first round, he was at his best. On Wednesday night, McDavid didn’t get a single shot on goal. That had never happened to him in 54 previous playoff games.

“A little bit, maybe, too passive,” said McDavid of the Oilers’ game, after they shifted midgame from waves of attacks to protecting their sizable lead.

McDavid suggested the absence of third-period offence and not being able to hold on to the win was almost something like bad luck – pointing to a tight Game 4 road win against Los Angeles in the first round when Edmonton was also outplayed in the third period but managed to prevail.

“Overall, I didn’t mind our game,” McDavid said.

That isn’t an unreasonable assessment but the weight on McDavid and the Oilers is suddenly more considerable than anyone thought it would be as the teams ready for Game 2 on Friday night in Vancouver.

Perhaps the best analysis of how the Oilers blew their lead came from Canucks goaltender Arturs Silovs, the 23-year-old rookie who gave up those four goals to Edmonton.

“You let in four goals, it’s not easy to swallow,” said Silovs of his own trials. Then everything changed in front of him. Edmonton’s offence ebbed and Vancouver pressed. It forced the Oilers to defend for much of the third.

“That wore them down,” said Silovs after the game. “Especially, like you’re up two goals, and then you let in a fast two goals, and it’s a tied game. It’s hard to come back, even mentally. You’re battling to create something. And then you get scored on again. It’s five-four, and then you’re scrambling.”

It was in those final scrambling minutes that Edmonton drummed up their only four shots on goal of the third period, after coming up with zero in the first 16 minutes of the final frame. When it counted the most, Edmonton’s vaunted firepower failed to produce. Silovs, playing his 13th NHL game and fourth of these playoffs, held firm behind a solid defence.

While there was certainly some luck in Vancouver’s comeback, the Canucks also showed everyone who was sure Edmonton would win the series that the outcome isn’t necessarily so certain. Vancouver has a good team, even if they remain without their starting goaltender, Vezina finalist Thatcher Demko. The comeback win quiets the talk that would have swirled had Vancouver lost, whether it was time to move Silovs back to the bench and go with veteran backup Casey DeSmith.

But the questions now pile on Edmonton, what went wrong and whether it’s only an unfortunate faceplant when this is – in the hopeful view – supposed to be the spring the team finally breaks through to the Cup finals. Vancouver gets another game at home, having won the Pacific Division over Edmonton, though it had been the Oilers that surged in recent months while the Canucks somewhat slipped.

On Wednesday, the Oilers had the Canucks pinned but Vancouver conjured the right bounces to get a flurry of pucks in the net. Edmonton’s the team with more playoff experience but, earlier in the day, Canucks coach Rick Tocchet questioned the idea that teams need to lose in the postseason before they can win. “You figure it out,” he said, but added, “You better be a fast learner.”

The Canucks seem to be learning fast. For McDavid, forgetting about the unusual Game 1 as fast as possible was the only thing left to do as the arena emptied out.

“They were strange goals, all around,” said McDavid of Vancouver’s offence. “We scored some strange ones, too. Kind of a frantic game.”