Oilers seek momentum heading into Game 3 against Canucks

VANCOUVER -- The Edmonton Oilers are hoping to keep their momentum going heading into Game 3 of the Western Conference Second Round against the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Place on Sunday (9:30 p.m. ET; TVAS, SN, SN1, TBS, truTV, MAX).

After losing a three-goal lead in a 5-4 loss in Game 1, the Oilers came back from three one-goal deficits to tie the series with a 4-3 overtime win in Game 2 on Friday.

"It alliviates a lot of pressure," Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said Saturday before the team departed for Edmonton. "Coming in here not getting one (win) would have been tough for us to go back to Edmonton into a must-win Game 3. Anytime you go into another building starting the series and you get the split, you say it's a success. I thought it was a success we won, but also the way we played and built our game was a lot better."

Forwards Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid delivered for Edmonton in Game 2, each with a goal and three assists in the win.

"Definitely the storyline was our No. 1 line -- Connor, Leon, [Zach] Hyman -- definitely that side of it, they played outstanding," Knoblauch said. "But the other three lines, they played extremely well too. They didn't get on the score sheet, but I thought they spent a lot of time in the offensive zone. Even our fourth line, they had a couple of offensive-zone face-offs where they sustained some pressure. That's important."

But Knoblauch also had praise for defenseman Evan Bouchard (29:59 of ice time) and Mattias Ekholm (25:42), who each scored in the win.

"I don't think you can talk about one without the other," Knoblauch said of Ekholm and Bouchard. "They've been in the news, headlines a lot, the way they've been playing, and the two of them are a remarkable pairing and relied on heavily last night with almost 30 minutes each. Whether it's defensively or offensively contributing, they've been playing very well. We played them on the ice together for 26 or 27 minutes. It's not a recipe for success every night, but we can definitely do it once in a while."

With the Oilers trailing 3-2 going into the third period, Knoblauch turned to his two stars, Draisaitl and McDavid, and had them on the ice as much as possible. Whether they play on the same line again in Game 3 remains to be seen, but after the performance in Game 2, it would be difficult to break them up.

"I'm happy to ride passenger with those guys," Hyman said. "They're two of the best players in the world and if you want to win, your best players have to be your best players -- every coach will tell you that -- and obviously they were our best players. Just generating-wise (on offense), I thought we had the puck a lot and we were pushing the pace of the game. Those two in particular, whenever they play together, they're looking for each other, they have that chemistry and I try to go create space get to the net and go to the hard areas."

Up until Friday, Edmonton had not defeated Vancouver all season. The Oilers lost all four games in the regular season, in which they were outscored 21-7, but now have confidence knowing they can defeat their Pacific Division rivals.

"I thought we were building all night," Hyman said after Game 2. "Obviously it was low-event shot-wise the first two periods (15-13 for Vancouver), but I thought we were building our game. We were down 3-2, but I thought we were the better team through two. When you're down 1-0 in the series and down 3-2 going into the third, you need a push, and I thought we made a push and we scored the tying goal with Connor doing his thing. It's huge."

The Canucks did a good job of containing McDavid in Game 1, limiting him to an assist as McDavid didn't have a shot on goal for the first time in his Stanley Cup Playoff career. McDavid responded with one of his best games of the playoffs and is hoping to build off that as the series shifts to Edmonton.

"He's probably his hardest critic," Hyman said. "If he doesn't have a game up to his own personal standards, anytime we lose, he feels an onus that he needs to do more. I think that's just the nature of who he is, and being a captain in this league, he always takes it upon himself when we lose that he could have done more. Whether it's fair or not, that's how he is and obviously after a loss, he's going to step up."