Remember the name Arturs Šilovs. The third-string goalie shut down the high-powered Edmonton Oilers offense to give the Vancouver Canucks the win 4-3. Šilovs made 41 saves to give Vancouver a two games to one lead in the Western Conference Semi-Finals in Edmonton on Sunday night.
In the third period, the 24-year-old Latvian net-minder faced an onslaught by one of the best offensive teams in the NHL. He credited his teammates for the win, “I just felt confident; the guys had my back like game one,” Šilovs said. “Everyone was resilient and blocking shots and the great danger chances our guys were able to block them.” Brock Boeser and Elias Lindholm each had two goals.
Boeser Gives Vancouver an Early Lead in Game 3
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Mattias Ekholm started the scoring with his third of the playoffs on the power play. He went back door and picked up a deflected puck from Evander Kane. Darnel Nurse got the other assist to give the Oilers a 1-0 lead. Edmonton is 13 for 27 in the playoffs after game three.
Vancouver got a power-play goal from Brock Boeser, his sixth of the playoffs. He shot the puck through a maze of players and past Skinner to tie the game at one. Vancouver was 62% on faceoffs in the first period.
Elias Lindholm gave Vancouver the lead with a goal at 13:18 of the first. About five minutes later, the crowd went silent when Boeser scored again. The goal came on an awful turnover by Edmonton Warren Foegele. It was 3-1 at the end of one.
Arturs Šilovs Shuts the Door in the Second
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Vancouver is without Vezina finalist Thatcher Demko. He has a lower-body injury but is on the ice taking shots and could return late in the series. The question would be whether head coach Rick Tocchet would make that change. Arturs Šilovs stopped 13 of 14 Edmonton Oilers shots in the second period and 21 of 22 in the third.
Leon Draisaitl scored the Oilers’ only goal of the second on the power play. Despite getting that goal, Draisaitl had two breakaways, and neither hit the back of the net. One hit the post, Šilovs made the save on the second. Leon Draisaitl averages 1.66 points per game in the Stanley Cup playoffs in his career. That’s second in NHL history behind Wayne Gretzky.
“I thought we did a good job keeping everything to the outside, five guys in the house,” Brock Boeser said. “Artie made some pretty big saves there. For the most part, we didn’t give them big-time looks.”
Canucks got their two-goal lead back late in the second period. Elias Lindholm made a beautiful play in the crease on the power play to get the puck over Stuart Skinner’s pad. Skinner gave up the goal on only four Vancouver shots in the period. It was 4-2 Canucks heading into the third.
Edmonton head coach Kris Knoblauch pulled Stuart Skinner after the second intermission. Calvin Pickard was in the net for Edmonton in the third period.
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Bradley Tachco is a career journalist. I spent 12+ years at CNN as a writer and producer. My sports are the NHL, MLB, and NFL. My goal: unique content. And my teams are the Buffalo Sabres, Buffalo Bills (yes, I’m a masochist), and the Los Angeles Dodgers. I have been a Dodgers fan since I was old enough to think. I have gone through decades of despair with all three franchises. You can follow Bradley on X @p09691
