Vancouver Canucks goaltender Arturs Silovs of Ventspils, Latvia was the star on Sunday night in Edmonton in game three of the Western Conference second round playoff series. In a 4-3 Canucks win over the Edmonton Oilers, Silovs made a career-high 42 saves as the Canucks now lead the best out of seven series two games to one.
The Oilers dominated play at Rogers Place in northern Alberta. However, despite a 27 shot advantage (Edmonton outshot Vancouver 45-18), the Oilers were unable to deliver the W.
Zach Hyman of Toronto, Ontario led the Oilers with eight shots on goal. The Canucks did an excellent job of containing Oilers superstar Connor McDavid as he did not have a single point.
What was Silovs’s best prior NHL save performance?
Silovs’s best prior save performance in the National Hockey League came on February 18, 2023. The Canucks defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 6-2 at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia, as Silovs made 35 saves on 37 shots. This was also Silovs’s first NHL victory.
Canucks winning the goaltending battle
After three games in the series, the Canucks have the clear advantage when it comes to goaltending as Stuart Skinner has been inconsistent. According to Kelly Hrudey of Rogers Sportsnet, the primary reason why the Canucks won game three came down to goaltending. The Oilers need Skinner like he was in the games played in southern California in the third and fourth games against the Los Angeles Kings in order to square the series on Tuesday night.
Three goals in 10 minutes
The other reason why Vancouver won game three was because of prolific offense in a 10 minute stretch in the first period. After trailing 1-0, former Calgary Flame Elias Lindholm of Boden, Sweden scored on the power-play from Brock Boeser of Burnsville, Minnesota and Quinn Hughes of Orlando, Florida at 8:45 of the opening frame. Boeser then put the Canucks up 2-1 at 13:18 of the first period from J.T. Miller of East Palestine, Ohio and Tyler Myers, and then the Canucks up 3-1 from Pius Suter of Zurich, Switzerland in a lead the Canucks would not relinquish with one minute and 26 seconds left in the first period.
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