NHL Series: Arturs Silovs dazzles in Canucks' Game 3 victory

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The Edmonton Oilers have become accustomed to relying on their offensive bursts to find success.

On Sunday night in Game 3 against the Vancouver Canucks, Connor McDavid and his men instead faced Arturs Silovs in full possession of his means, who led the Canucks to a 4-3 victory.

Author of 42 saves, Silovs allowed the Canucks to take a 2-1 lead in the series. This was the first time in his career that he had more than 40 shots in an NHL game.

He was good for us at the end of the season and was excellent in the playoffs. “He’s a proud competitor,” forward Brock Boeser said after the game about the 23-year-old goaltender.

If the Canucks goalie succeeds, the same can't be said for Stuart Skinner, who was ejected from the game after allowing four goals on 15 shots in 40 minutes of play.

Brock Boeser was the main player in Skinner's nightmares with two goals and an assist, while Elias Lindholm also had a strong game with a brace.

“I just want to follow our system of play and execute the details well to help our team win no matter what,” Boozer added of his three-point performance.

After allowing the first goal to their opponents, the Canucks took advantage of an inspired performance by Boeser to score three times in a row and take control of the game. Boeser even thought he had a natural hat-trick at one point, until the first goal of the game was eventually scored for Lindholm.

In Oilers camp, Matthias Ekholm and Leon Draisaitl both took advantage of their numerical advantages to fight back against Vancouver. Yvan Bouchard scored late in the game to give the Oilers hope, but to no avail.

“We knew they would step up their attacking efforts, but we followed our game plan and maintained our good structure. I think this is important, it shows that we have confidence in our system of play,” Boozer explained.

Ekholm has scored in every game in the series so far. He became the second defenseman in Oilers history to score in three consecutive playoff games, after Paul Coffey, who accomplished the feat three times.

The two teams will meet in the fourth game on Tuesday evening in Edmonton.

Too little too late

The Oilers returned home for Game 3 against the Canucks. The Canucks led 4-2 in the third period.

The Canucks were undisciplined early in the game and the Oilers made sure to make them pay. A shot attempt by Evander Kane hit the stick and the puck ended up at the other end of the slot, on Mattias Ekholm's stick. The defender only had to send the ball into the back of an open cage to open the scoring with his third goal of the qualifiers.

However, three minutes was enough for the Canucks to respond, also on the power play. Brock Boeser took advantage of heavy traffic in front of the net to hit a good wrist shot, which was blocked by Elias Lindholm, and the ball slid past Stuart Skinner.

Boeser got back on the attack with less than seven minutes left in the first half. The Canucks forward was forgotten at the top of the circle and took advantage of a beautiful throw from JT Miller to put the Canucks in the driver's seat with a nice wrist shot from the side of the shield.

Boozer has already had a goal and an assist so far, giving Edmonton another shot at the end of the period. With less than two minutes remaining in the first period, an Oilers turnover in their own territory allowed Pius Sutter to hand off the puck to Boeser at the bottom of the circle. The latter then put the puck under Skinner's glove to double Vancouver's lead.

With less than 45 seconds remaining in the period, Quinn Hughes made a great defensive play to save a puck that was calmly sliding into the net behind Arturs Silovs.

Selovs made a stunning and unexpected save at the start of the second half. Corey Perry pushed a rebound toward the net, but Sealoves grabbed the glove as it flew over the goal line to prevent the Oilers from cutting the lead in half.

However, a penalty was awarded to Filip Hronek on the sequence and the Oilers' numerical advantage began. Positioned in his office under the right circle, Leon Draisaitl fired a powerful shot off a pass from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins to score his seventh goal of the playoffs and cut the deficit in half.

Draisaitl would have put everyone back at square one midway through the game. A great pass from Connor McDavid put him one-on-one in front of Seloves, but Draisaitl sent the ball straight to the post after beating Seloves with a fake pass.

As in the first period, the Canucks struck at the end of the period. With an extra man on the ice, Lindholm took advantage of Miller's pass to sneak into the slot and move the puck to the right of Skinner's pad to double Vancouver's lead for the second time in the game.

This goal eventually ended the game for Skinner, who was replaced by Calvin Pickard to start the third period.

Bouchard gave the Oilers hope by scoring on a shot from the blue line with less than two minutes to play, but Edmonton couldn't complete the comeback.