On a thrilling Sunday night in Edmonton, AB, the Vancouver Canucks faced off against the Edmonton Oilers for Game 3 of the Second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Canucks decided to start Arturs Silovs in net, while the Oilers went with their starting goalie, Stuart Skinner, for the third consecutive game. After winning 4-3 in overtime on Friday night with a clutch OT goal by Evan Bouchard, the Oilers were eager to maintain their momentum in the series. Special teams and goaltending proved to be crucial factors once again, as the game was closely contested throughout.
The opening minutes of the first period saw Edmonton’s potent power play in full force, and their second unit was able to capitalize on it with a brilliant goal from defenseman Mattias Ekholm, his third of the playoffs. However, the momentum shifted when Leon Draisaitl was penalized for an unnecessary interference call, giving the Canucks an opportunity to score on a power play. Elias Lindholm seized the moment and expertly tipped in a shot from Boeser, giving Vancouver a 2-1 edge with just over six minutes left in the period. Brock Boeser then added to the Oilers’ woes, sniping a shot past Stuart Skinner for his first goal of the game and giving the Canucks a commanding 3-1 lead heading into the intermission. The Oilers’ defensive miscues proved costly once again, as Brock Boeser scored his second goal of the game, leaving the Oilers with a lot of ground to make up in the remaining periods.
In the beginning of the period, Corey Perry almost put the puck past Silovs, but the Vancouver goalie managed to snag it away from him on the goal line, keeping a 3-1 lead for his team. Later on, Leon Draisaitl slapped a shot past Silovs on yet another power-play for Edmonton, trimming the deficit to 3-2. Despite having a grade-A chance later on, Draisaitl was unable to convert and hit the post, which seemed to be a common theme for the Oilers throughout the night. Unfortunately, another soft penalty was called against the Oilers, this time for cross-checking on Ekholm. Vancouver could not convert on the man advantage, however. The referees continued to call penalties against the Oilers, calling cross-checking on Darnell Nurse for the third time in the game, which led to Vancouver scoring another goal, increasing their lead to 4-2. Despite Nikita Zadorov’s clean hit on Evander Kane that warranted a penalty, a phantom call was given to the Oilers bench for a minor penalty going into the second intermission. It was clear that the referees’ calls were not in favor of the Oilers throughout the game.
Calvin Pickard would begin the third period in the net for Edmonton, and he would start off not facing many shots through the first ten minutes. In the other net, Arturs Silovs remained stellar and stumped an onslaught of Oilers shots throughout the first half of the third period. Another cross-checking penalty would be called, but this time it was on the Canucks, and they would kill it. Evan Bouchard would give Edmonton life on a deflected goal with a little over a minute left in the game and would trim the deficit to one. Vancouver pulled this one out with a 4-3 victory, thanks to Silovs and the refs. Game 4 is on Tuesday night and will be do or die for the Edmonton Oilers in this series.
Go oilers all the way to the Stanley cup!