Bouchard, Oilers top Canucks in OT in Game 2 to even West 2nd Round series
Vancouver –Game 2 of the Edmonton Oilers’ Western Conference Second Round series against the Vancouver Canucks was won 4-3 at Rogers Arena on Friday thanks to a goal by Evan Bouchard 5:38 into overtime.
Bouchard’s right-circumference shot went in off Canucks defenseman Ian Cole’s stick blade, capping a dominant game for Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, who were reunited on the Oilers’ top line.
For the Oilers, the No. 2 seed from the Pacific Division, Stuart Skinner made 16 saves while players McDavid and Draisaitl each got a goal and three assists. The captain of Edmonton, Connor McDavid, remarked, “We hung in there all night.” “Everyone put up a great fight to win this one. This one was significant. It is satisfying to
For the first time in these Stanley Cup Playoffs, Draisaitl, who was a game-time decision after sitting out portions of the first game’s second period and skipping practice on Thursday due to an unexplained injury, joined McDavid on the top line for the duration of a match.
Draisaitl is one point behind McDavid (two goals, 15 assists) for the NHL lead with a point in each of the seven playoff games, multiple points in six of them, and a total of 16 points (six goals, 10 assists).
Forward Warren Foegele of the Oilers remarked, “It’s their work ethic, but they’re obviously two of the best players in the League.” “I am aware. They constantly compete, get up early, and focus on their trade when I train with them in the summer. They appear during more than just the regular season. They attend the postseason.
It was a bounce-back game for McDavid, who had an assist in Game 1 but was held without a shot in a playoff game for the first time in his 55 NHL playoff games to that point.
For the first time in his 55 NHL playoff games up to that point, McDavid—who had an assist in Game 1—was held without a shot in a playoff game. It was a bounce-back game for him. “So, he’s arguably the greatest player to have ever played because of that?” stated Draisaitl.
There is no one out there like him, and it is his desire to push himself to be greater and more. We can all agree on that, I think, and even though it’s evident that he wasn’t satisfied with his performance in Game 1, you can always expect on him to return with a good effort—I’m just so pleased of how much work he puts in.
First-seeded Canucks from the Pacific received goals and two assists from Nikita Zadorov, two assists from J.T. Miller, and 27 saves from Arturs Silovs.
Miller, whose line mostly faced up against McDavid and Draisaitl, declared, “They were the better team today.” They performed better than we did. They had a lot of time on our end, but we had a decent chance to steal a game. As a team, we simply didn’t win enough battles on the wall; we need to improve there or we won’t make their night as simple.
EDM@VAN R2, Gm2: Zadorov wires one in from ridiculous angle
Game 3 of the best-of-7 series will be in Edmonton on Sunday.
“They’re good players, but we made it easy on them,” Miller said of McDavid and Draisaitl. “We didn’t win our battles and they were able to play in the [offensive] zone, and once they get in there, they’re very hard to get it off of.
We just didn’t win those battles we normally win. We were one and done all night and started in the [defensive] zone a lot and stayed in the [defensive] zone.”
At 5:27 of the third period, when Carson Soucy attempted to strike Zach Hyman inside the Oilers blue line, McDavid knotted the score 3-3 on a breakaway.
When Canucks defenseman Tyler Myers reached for the errant puck, McDavid skated onto it, sped down the ice, and then slowed down to fire barely beneath Silovs’ blocker.
“I was happy with the first (period), I was happy with the second, but definitely the third was our best,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said. “We just pressured. I thought we simplified the game and showed more urgency than we had in Game 1.”
EDM@VAN R2, Gm2: McDavid makes stellar play in alone, flings in equalizer
Elias Pettersson scored his first goal of the playoffs to put the Canucks ahead 1-0 on the power play 4:14 into the first period, one-timing a cross-ice pass from Miller to the bottom of the left circle.
“Nice to get on the scoreboard,” Pettersson said. “We moved the puck well.”
Draisaitl tied it 1-1 at 10:56 on the power play, finishing a give-and-go with McDavid from inside the right circle with a shot past Silovs’ blocker.
“He’s an amazing player, one of the best players in the world, the best player in the world a lot of nights,” McDavid said. “And tonight was one of those nights.”
When the teams were playing 4-on-4, Brock Boeser scored 53 seconds into the second quarter to give Vancouver a 2-1 lead. He did this by redirecting a Soucy point shot from the high slot down and under Skinner’s pads.
However, with the teams still skating 4-on-4, Mattias Ekholm levelled the score at 2-2 at 1:16 with a snappy shot over Silovs’ glove from the left hash marks after a Draisaitl pass from the goal line bounced to him off McDavid’s skate.
Zadorov put Vancouver ahead 3-2 with 1:43 left in the second period on a wrist shot off the rush from the bottom of the left circle that went over the right shoulder of Skinner as he leaned into his post. It was Zadorov’s fourth goal of the playoffs after he scored five in 54 regular-season games.
Edmonton took over in the third period, however, outshooting Vancouver 15-2.
“I think they had 13 5-on-5 chances,” Canucks coach Rick Tocchet said. “Too many guys are flipping pucks out when we didn’t have to. That’s only the thing I didn’t like about our team in the third. I guess that’s playoff experience.
You have the puck, you have someone on your back, skate with it. Keep your heart rate down. I just felt soon as somebody got it, they flipped it. Like everybody. I think there were plays to be made. And that’s what happens.”
NOTES:
Adam Henrique, an Edmonton forward, played 11:38 after sitting out Game 1 due to an unspecified injury.
After playing as McDavid’s left wing on the top line in the first round, he dropped to the second line. McDavid has tied the Oilers record set by Mark Messier in 1989 with an assist in each of the first seven playoff games.
With his goal in his 56th game of the playoffs, Draisaitl became the third player to reach that milestone fastest, behind Mario Lemieux (45 games) and Wayne Gretzky (43 games).
It was also his 90th goal overall in the playoffs. ..With his 20th assist in 25 career playoff games, Quinn Hughes became the fastest defenseman in Canucks history to reach the milestone, trailing only Gary Suter’s 23 games and Adam Fox’s 24 games.
