Arturs Silovs made 42 saves as the Vancouver Canucks beat the Edmonton Oilers 4-3 Sunday night at Rogers Place. The Canucks lead the best-of-seven playoff series 2-1.
“I thought we were the better team for the most part and, in my eyes, it should have resulted in a win, but that’s not the way hockey works sometimes,” Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl said after the game.
The Oilers’ second unit power play produced the game’s opening goal. Evander Kane’s shot from the left wing was blocked. The puck deflected to Mattias Ekholm, who buried his third of the series.
The Canucks tied it on a man advantage of their own when Elias Lindholm tipped Brock Boeser’s wrist shot past Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner.
A few minutes later, Boeser was left alone in the slot and wired in another one. After an egregious Oilers turnover, Boeser popped a shot inside the post to make it 3-1 Canucks after one.
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“It was a couple of nice plays by them and they capitalized on their chances,” Draisaitl said.
“You look at the amount of opportunities we have — we just have to be persistent and continue to push and we’ll get some more breaks,” Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said.
The Oilers pulled within a goal 3:36 into the third when Draisaitl banged a sharp angle one-timer off Silovs’ hip and in. The Canucks replied with a power play from Lindholm late in the second.
Calvin Pickard replaced Skinner in the Oilers’ goal to start the third. Skinner allowed four goals on 15 shots.
“We need more saves,” Knoblauch said.
“Defence, along with goaltending, is very important to winning hockey games — especially in the long term. It’s got to be better.”
With Pickard on the bench for an extra attacker, Evan Bouchard scored on a goalmouth scramble to bring the Oilers within one with 1:16 left. Edmonton couldn’t find another goal despite outshooting the Canucks 22-3 in the third.
At the buzzer, Connor McDavid and Carson Soucy exchanged slashes. McDavid was then cross-checked by Soucy and Nikita Zadorov, setting off a post-game scrum.
Game 4 is Tuesday at Rogers Place. You can listen to the game live on 630 CHED, beginning with The Faceoff Show at 5:30 p.m. The actual game starts at 7:30 p.m.