Vancouver Canucks goalie Arturs Silovs makes a save on Edmonton Oilers' Leon Draisaitl during Game 3 in Edmonton, on May 12.JASON FRANSON/The Canadian Press
The Canucks stole the momentum back from the Oilers on Sunday with a 4-3 victory in Game 3 of their second-round playoff series at Rogers Place.
Brock Boeser and Elias Lindholm each scored twice for Vancouver, which took a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven. Game 4 will be played in Edmonton on Tuesday. Rookie goalie Arturs Silovs stopped 42 of 45 shots to pick up the win.
The Oilers blew a three-goal lead in the series opener but rallied multiple times and won Game 2 on Friday in overtime. It appeared then that Edmonton had the advantage with the next two contests being on its home ice, where it was 28-9-7 this season.
But often there is little carry-over from one post-season game to the next – like Sunday’s.
Edmonton got a fast start when Mattias Ekholm scored on a power play with 14:23 to go in the first period. It was the third goal in as many games for the veteran defenceman.
The Canucks quickly rebounded, however, with a goal by Lindholm and two by Boeser about five minutes apart. With those, they also took a 3-1 lead into their dressing room at the first intermission.
It appeared that Boeser had recorded a natural hat trick – that is three straight goals – until a scoring change awarded the first goal to Lindholm on a tip-in of a shot by Boeser. The crowd was fooled, too – a number of hats were tossed onto the ice.
The Oilers climbed back into it on another man advantage on a sharp shot from a tough angle by Leon Draisaitl less than four minutes into the second period. By then, fans of each team taunted each other’s goalie.
Silovs, the third netminder Vancouver has used during the playoffs, shined in the first round but found the going a little rougher in Round 2. The 23-year-old had allowed eight goals on 49 shots entering Game 3, but was superb in this one
“The kid has given us games on the biggest stage,” Rick Tocchet, the Canucks coach, said. “It is a small size sample but these are pressure games. He is playing like it is his net right now. He is excellent.”
Edmonton’s Stuart Skinner was pulled after he allowed four goals on 15 shots over the first 40 minutes.
“We need more saves,” Kris Knoblauch, the Oilers coach, said. “I think tonight is one Stuart would like to have back.”
After a 5-4 loss at Vancouver in Game 1, the Oilers came back from three one-goal deficits to tie the series with a 4-3 overtime win in Game 2.
This time they pushed hard but could not catch up at the end. Evan Bouchard scored Edmonton’s final goal with 1:16 remaining with its goalie pulled.
“They threw a lot at us,” Tocchet said of the Oilers. “We just grinded it out.”
Vancouver finished first in the Pacific Division five points ahead of the second-place Oilers. Edmonton lost all four regular-season games between them as well as Game 1.
Although they were a pre-season favourite to reach the Stanley Cup finals, the Oilers began the 2023-24 campaign with wins in just three of their first 13 games. They were last in the standings among the NHL’s 32 teams when Jay Woodcroft was fired as coach and replaced by Knoblauch.
From that point on, Edmonton went 46-18-5 and near the end of the season climbed within a few points of Vancouver.
Hired on Nov. 13, Knoblauch said the club approached the rest of the season dividing it into eight-game increments.
“When we started, we thought we had to win every single game to get back into the picture,” Knoblauch said after Sunday’s morning skate. “We were trying to do it all at once. At that time, we felt we had to win five of every eight through the rest of the season to put ourselves in a good position to make the playoffs.
“We ultimately wanted to narrow our focus, rather than to look at the big picture and look at what we had to do in the next week or so.”
The Canucks did an excellent job shutting down Connor McDavid in Game 1. It was the first time the Oilers captain failed to register a shot on the net in a playoff game. In Game 2, McDavid and sidekick Draisaitl ran wild. They combined for two goals and eight points. But Vancouver clamped down again on Sunday. It allowed the one goal by Draisaitl but held McDavid off the scoresheet again.
“Everyone bought in, did their jobs, blocked shots and did whatever was needed to get this win,” Lindholm said.
The Canucks burst out of the gate at the start of the season and have sustained that effort all year long.
“I think guys have done a good job playing within our system,” Tyler Myers, a veteran defenceman, said earlier Sunday. He had an assist and seven hits. “Even in the second half, when we had trouble at times scoring goals, we fell back on our team defence.”
Myers was expecting a tough battle with McDavid and Draisaitl.
“You have to have the same mindset against them every game,” he said. “As good as McDavid is, all you can do is try to limit his chances. We come back for Game 3 looking to be better.”
The Canucks were a lot better and can take hold of the series with another triumph on Tuesday.