VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl kept Edmonton even with Vancouver and Evan Bouchard capped the Oilers’ big win over the Canucks.
McDavid and Draisaitl each had a goal and three assists, and Bouchard scored 5:38 into overtime as Edmonton beat Vancouver 4-3 on Friday night to even their second-round playoff series at one game apiece.
“When they put on a show like the did tonight it’s hard to stop them,” the Oilers’ Mattias Ekholm said.
Ekholm also scored and Stuart Skinner finished with 16 saves for Edmonton.
Draisaitl was listed as a game-time decision earlier in the day due to an undisclosed injury after he appeared to be in pain late in Edmonton’s 5-4 loss Wednesday. He played and had a big game when the Oilers needed it.
“He’s a great player,” McDavid said. “He’s an amazing player, one of the best players in the world, the best player in the world on a lot of nights. And tonight was one of those nights.”
Nikita Zadorov had a goal and an assist, and Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser also scored for the Canucks. Arturs Silovs made 27 saves.
“We’re not going to get too high or too low,” Canucks defenseman Quinn Hughes said. “For the most part we played a pretty solid game and now we just look forward to Edmonton.”
Game 3 in the best-of-seven series is Sunday in Edmonton.
In the extra period, Bouchard got the game-winner with a shot from near the boards that skittered in past Silovs.
“There was lots of resilience,” McDavid said. “I thought we were a little unlucky to be down in the third but we stuck with it, we hung in there all night. It feels good to come into their building and earn a win.”
McDavid used his speed to tie the score 3-3 at 5:27 of the third. The elite center picked up a contested puck in the neutral zone, sprinted down the ice ahead of a pair of Canucks defensemen, and sent a shot flying under Silovs’ blocker for his second postseason goal.
Edmonton continued to press for the winner late, hemming Vancouver into its own end for extended stretches and outshooting the home side 15-2 across the third period, but had to settle for overtime.
“Too many guys were flipping pucks when we didn’t have to,” Vancouver coach Rick Tocchet said about his team’s play in the third period. ”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 feel as soon as somebody got it, they flipped it. Everybody. There were plays to be made but we never gave then anything to defend.“
Edmonton and Vancouver both went 1-for-3 on the power play.
The Canucks opened the scoring on an early power play. With Ryan Nugent-Hopkins in the box for tripping, J.T Miller wound up and looked like he was about to launch a big shot from the faceoff circle. Instead, he sliced a pass across the slot to Pettersson, who fired a quick snap shot past an out-of-position Skinner 4:16 into the game for his first of the playoffs.
Edmonton’s potent power play got to work before the first intermission after Tyler Myers was called for hooking. Stationed at the goal line, McDavid sent a pass in the slot to Draisaitl, who fired it in to tie the score at 1-1 with his sixth goal of the playoffs at 10:56.
Silovs kept the Oilers from taking a lead into the locker room with some last-second heroics at the end of the opening period. Ekholm fired a slap shot from distance and the rookie goalie got a glove on it. He couldn’t contain the puck, however, and Hyman was there to scoop up the rebound. Silovs then dove across the net to stop the sniper from the side of the net.
The ice opened up early in the second after Edmonton’s Derek Ryan was sent to the box for interference and Vancouver’s Nils Hoglander was called for slashing, setting up two minutes of 4-on-4 hockey.
Fifty-three seconds into the period, Carson Soucy fired a shot on net from inside the blue line and Boeser tipped it in past Skinner from the middle of the slot. His fifth goal of the playoffs put the Canucks up 2-1.
The lead lasted 23 seconds.
With both sides still down a man, Draisaitl sent a pass to Ekholm from the blue line and the veteran defenseman sent a shot sailing past Silovs from the high hash marks, knotting the score at 2-2 with his second of the postseason.
Zadorov put the home side up once again with 1:43 left in the second. The bruising defenseman picked up a puck from Miller in the neutral zone, streaked down the ice and unleashed a wrist shot that soared up and under the cross bar to make it 3-2. It was Zadorov’s fourth of the playoffs.
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AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
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