Connor McDavid failed to record a shot for the first time in his playoff career, and the Edmonton Oilers blew a three-goal lead to drop Game 1 of their Western Conference second-round series to the Vancouver Canucks on Wednesday night.
The Oil looked to be in complete command, leading 4-1 late in the second period and seemingly on the verge of stealing back home-ice advantage in emphatic fashion. Instead, Vancouver scored four unanswered goals to stun Edmonton 5-4 and open up a 1-0 lead in the best-of-7 series.
It was a brutal loss from Edmonton's perspective, and the team made bleak playoff history in the defeat.
“Oilers suffer their 8th postseason loss in franchise history when holding a 3-goal lead,” wrote Sportsnet Stats shortly after the game. “That's the most by any team in the history of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.”
Not a great look for an Oilers team that looked to be in complete control and instead will be searching for answers ahead of Friday night's Game 2. Edmonton was held to just eight shots in the final two periods — and 18 overall — on rookie goaltender Arturs Silovs.
It certainly wasn't a goaltender's duel on Wednesday; Silovs made just 14 saves on 18 shots, while Stuart Skinner went just 19-for-24. Both teams will be looking for better goaltending this weekend, but the Canucks played a great third period and felt they were deserving of the victory.
Canucks deserve a lot of credit for comeback vs. Oilers
No, the Oilers shouldn't have lost this game. Especially after Ryan Nugent-Hopkins missed a glorious chance to make it 5-2 shortly before JT Miller began the third period comeback.
But the Canucks deserve a lot of credit for hanging around and finding a couple of huge goals in the third period. Conor Garland ended up being the hero, taking a pass from Dakota Joshua — who also scored in the game — before faking a slap shot and slipping the puck between the legs of Skinner with under five minutes left in regulation.
“Everybody wants to be in that moment,” Garland said afterwards, per The Associated Press. “We understand when you have to execute and when you dig a hole like that, you got to execute if you want to get back in the game. And I think that was the biggest thing in the third, that we just executed and buried our chances.”
Garland's goal was Vancouver's second in 39 seconds after Nikita Zadorov knotted things at four with a booming slap shot from the point. That came after JT Miller cut Edmonton's lead to 4-3 on a Brock Boeser tip-in midway through the final stanza.
“It’s a resilient group,” said Canucks coach and Jack Adams finalist Rick Tocchet. “Sometimes we’re not pretty. Sometimes things happen. But I just feel like it’s a real close group. And this is when you need a close group, these situations. And I thought everyone had something to contribute tonight. There were no passengers.”
Vancouver robbed Edmonton in Game 1, but the Oilers will have an opportunity to steal home-ice advantage back from the Canucks when puck drops at Rogers Arena on Friday night.
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