Arturs Silovs made a career-high 42 saves — including 21 in the third period — and the visiting Vancouver Canucks hung on to beat the Edmonton Oilers 4-3 in Game 3 of their Western Conference semifinal series on Sunday.
Brock Boeser had two goals and an assist for the Canucks, who lead the series 2-1. Game 4 of the best-of-seven series is on Tuesday in Edmonton.
Elias Lindholm scored twice and J.T. Miller and Quinn Hughes each had two assists for Vancouver, the No. 1 seed from the Pacific Division.
“I was just trying to follow the puck, being fast and in position. Being ahead of the play,” Silovs said. “They love to sneak around. They’re high-skilled players. They have a lot of skill and speed. I had to be really aware of what they’re doing and be careful with the rebounds as well.”
Leon Draisaitl, Evan Bouchard and Mattias Ekholm all posted a goal and an assist for the Oilers. Stuart Skinner allowed four goals on 15 shots for the Oilers before being lifted after two periods. Calvin Pickard made three saves for Edmonton, the No. 2 seed from the Pacific.
Moments after Miller’s empty-net attempt from the defensive zone hit the post, Bouchard’s shot deflected in off Vancouver defenseman Ian Cole with 1:16 remaining to pull the Oilers within 4-3.
Ekholm gave the Oilers a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 5:37 of the first period. Evander Kane’s shot from the left circle deflected to Ekholm on the right side, and he scored into the open net.
Edmonton has scored a power-play goal in all eight playoff games this season.
Lindholm tied it 1-1 with a power play goal at 8:45, deflecting Boeser’s shot past Skinner from the slot.
Boeser made it 2-1 at 13:18, receiving a pass in the right circle from Miller and beating Skinner far side with a wrist shot.
Boeser increased the lead to 3-1 at 18:34. Pius Suter intercepted an Oilers clearing attempt and passed to Boeser, who received the puck alone in the left circle, cut in front and scored.
“We knew they were going to push and we held in there,” Boeser said. “We stuck to our structure. I think that’s important. We’ve talked about that a lot this year, and it just shows we have trust and faith in our structure.”
Draisaitl pulled the Oilers within 3-2 at 3:36 of the second period, scoring on a one-timer from just above the goal line to the left of Silovs off a pass from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins on a power play.
“I thought we were the better team for the most part, and in my eyes that should have resulted in a win, but that’s not the way hockey works sometimes. Just regroup and get ready for Game 4,” Draisaitl said.
Lindholm made it 4-2 at 17:35 of the second period, receiving a pass from Miller as he went down the slot and scoring on a backhand shot during a power play.
–Field Level Media
