GAME RECAP: Canucks 4, Oilers 3 (Game 3)

EDMONTON, AB – Too many mistakes, too many missed chances and a locked-in Arturs Silovs in between the pipes on Sunday night for the Canucks all contributed to the Blue & Orange's downfall in Game 3 on home ice.

"I thought were the better team for the most part," Leon Draisaitl said. "In my eyes, it should have resulted in a win. But that's not the way hockey works, so just regroup and get ready for Game 4."

The Oilers struck four posts and had numerous opportunities to cut into the Canucks' lead after falling behind 3-1 at the end of the first period, but they weren't able to solve the rookie Latvian netminder for the majority of Game 3 at Rogers Place, finishing with a 4-3 defeat that puts them behind two games to one in their second-round series.

"The post is not good goaltending, but we can certainly do a better job of bearing down and capitalizing on our looks," Draisaitl said.

Silovs made a career-high 42 saves in the victory, while their offence was provided by Brock Boeser and Elias Lindholm, who each scored a pair of goals to help lift the Canucks over the Oilers despite being outshot 36-7 over the final two periods and 45-18 over the full 60 minutes.

"I think when we push the pace and play fast, that's kind of our game," Foegele said. "And you've got to give credit to them, too. They played a good shutdown for the last bit, and they know their goalie made some good saves."

Stuart Skinner made 11 saves on 15 shots in the first two periods before being relieved by Calvin Pickard to begin the final frame. Defenceman Mattias Ekholm scored in his third straight playoff game, and Leon Draisaitl added a goal and assist to record his seventh multi-point effort in Edmonton's last eight post-season contests.

Game 4 is on Tuesday at 7:30pm MT at Rogers Place.

FIRST PERIOD

After the Oilers opened the scoring on the power play through Ekholm for a rare goal from their second unit, Boeser got it right back for the visitors before a few more self-inflected errors had the Canucks leading by two goals at the first intermission.

Draisaitl made a sweet through-the-legs dangle on Boese at the blueline that led to the winger taking a tripping penalty and setting up Edmonton's power play with the opportunity to open the scoring early. The first unit couldn't garner any meaningful looks on Silovs and left 35 seconds on the clock for the second unit to work with, but that's all they needed when Evander Kane's wrist shot was deflected into the path of Ekholm to score in his third straight playoff game.

But Edmonton's situation started to turn soon after when Draisaitl interfered with Elias Lindholm in the neutral zone, leading to the Canucks' centre deflecting J.T. Miller's wrist shot past Stuart Skinner to tie the game.

Almost five minutes later, Miller drew the attention of Ekholm and McDavid in the corner at five-on-five, opening up space for Boeser to take a pass from Miller and pick his spot far side on Skinner from inside the right circle for his first goal of the game.

"I think at the end of the day, they're beating us in five-on-five scoring," Foegele said. "That's seemed to be the difference. Usually this time of year, special teams are the difference, but they have a good power play and good PK, too. So they're scoring five-on-five goals and we're not scoring as many."

The Oilers' pre-game hopes of managing their mistakes weren't going to plan in the first before it ended up getting worse when Foegele had a no-look backhand feed intercepted by Pius Suter, who funnelled it down to Boeser for a wide-open look that he placed inside the left post for a 3-1 lead with 1:26 to go in the first period.

"Obviously, turning over pucks, I should know better," Foegele said. "We can't beat ourselves there, and unfortunately, I did that and put our team in a bad spot and then we were kind of chasing the game. But I thought we created a lot of looks, the power play got us some goals, but obviously, I can't do that."

Evander Kane would begin a frustrating trend for Edmonton of finding the post and not the back of the net when the winger rattled the iron on a two-on-one with 2:33 remaining. Then in the final 30 seconds, Derek Ryan tried to push the rebound off Vincent Desharnais' effort that snuck behind Silovs, but he was tied up in the crease and unable to finish the chance before he struck the iron himself on the period's final play.

SECOND PERIOD

It was a real travesty for the Blue & Orange to see themselves beat Silovs six different times in the opening 40 minutes, but only have two goals to show for it.

The Oilers came close early on a redirection off a Canucks defenceman's stick that was pulled off the line by Silovs and waved off as 'no goal', with an official review reaffirming the decision to keep Vancouver ahead 3-1 almost two-and-a-half minutes into the middle frame.

However, Edmonton would head to the power play following the sequence and Draisaitl would find nothing but net from his regular spot in the right circle, dropping to one knee and sneaking his effort inside the near post after Silovs failed to get over to his post in time, allowing the puck to squeak through to make it 3-2 with 3:36 gone in the period.

The Oilers nearly made it a tie game within the next minute when Connor Brown put a redirection on goal off the rush that grazed the crossbar as it came across the goalmouth, as the Blue & Orange were firmly back on the offensive throughout the first three-quarters of the period.

Almost five-and-a-half minutes later, it was a similar story for Draisaitl, who had the puck sifted through the seem by McDavid for a breakaway that beat Silovs on his right side, but not the left post.

Edmonton's frustrations over not scoring increased in the final four minutes when Darnell Nurse was given a soft cross-checking call to produce a power play that was pounced on by Elias Lindholm, who kicked the puck to his stick and shoved in his second goal past Skinner's right pad. The Oilers outshot the Canucks 14-4 in the frame, but goalscoring was even to leave the Blue & Orange behind 4-2 after 40 minutes.

Skinner would be replaced by Pickard to begin the third period after he conceded four goals on 15 shots, and Coach Knoblauch admitted post-game that they needed a few more stops from their starting netminder.

"We needed more saves tonight," he said. "I felt that with Picks going in the third period, but along with goaltending, it's very important to winning hockey games, especially in the long term. It's got to be better."

THIRD PERIOD

Despite picking up a late goal to make for a dramatic finish, the Oilers would lament two missed power plays in the third period before ultimately failing to find the second goal they needed with their net empty.

The Oilers could feel hard done by with four posts in the match, but it was still a challenge for the Oilers to break down the rookie netminder with more than double the shots in favour of the hosts as the Latvian netminder finished the night with 42 saves.

"Obviously when you're down, you're pressing a bit harder and we've got a lot of belief in this room," Foegele said. "And guys were close on their chances and you've got to give credit to their goalie. He made some big saves."

Edmonton didn't convert on a Nikita Zadorov tripping call against McDavid in the first three minutes of the final frame before Ian Cole's cross-checking penalty inside the period's second half went unanswered, with Vancouver's penalty kill coming up clutch when they needed after being beaten on both opportunities in the first period.

Evan Bouchard's third goal of the postseason was bundled over the goal line with 1:16 left in regulation, leading to a mad finish where Edmonton had two last-gasp looks on goal with the extra man that were scraped wide before the clock expired on a 4-3 Canucks' victory in Game 3 at Rogers Place.

Following the final buzzer, McDavid took a whack at Carson Soucy before being cross-checked from behind by Zadorov and hit up high with another cross-check from Soucy, leading to a scrum that took a long while to settle before the teams exited the ice.