The Vancouver Canucks had two goals in the third period to tie the game, but the Oilers scored a goal in the last minute to take the game 3-2.
Head Coach Rick Tocchet felt he saw flashes of the kind of play he expects from his team in a playoff game, mentioning their intensity wasn’t where it needs to be for a full 60 minutes.
“The second period I thought we had about five, six shifts in a row we were there. And then the third there were chunks of it, but not consistently, so you can say positively but we need more consistent effort for more guys, and that maybe instead of just four or five shift chunks, you'll have more possession time,” Tocchet said.
His team has been resilient all season and the late push is a byproduct of their belief in their ability to win no matter the score. After tying the game up late, the Oilers’ goal with 39 second left was discouraging, but there’s another opportunity next game to bounce back.
“I’m kind of disappointed, there's just too many soft plays on that [last] goal. There's like four or five mistakes, we’ve got to dig in there,” Tocchet said.
“You have to give Edmonton credit, they played better than us tonight. We came back, made a game of it and then became a freebie...I thought we started to wear them down at the end, maybe that’s a positive.”
J.T. Miller said his defensive zone coverage on Edmonton’s last goal needed to be better and the breakdown in their team defence led to the goal.
“I'm pretty upset with myself at the moment. That was a pretty big play at the end of the game there. That pass should have never got to Bouchard and certainly shouldn’t get past me so Arty can’t see anything,” Miller said.
Artūrs Šilovs made some highlight reels saves and gutsy plays, including stopping a shot by Darnell Nurse, swiftly moving from post to post to make another stop from Nurse.
