Canucks ‘need all hands on deck’ against McDavid, Draisaitl in Game 3

VANCOUVER -- The Vancouver Canucks have to figure out a way to slow down Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl now that the Edmonton Oilers have loaded up their top line by playing their two biggest stars together.

It was too big a task in Game 2 of the Western Conference Second Round on Friday, with Draisaitl and McDavid each recording one goal and three assists for the Oilers in a 4-3 overtime win that evened the best-of-7 series. It won’t get any easier in Game 3 in Edmonton on Sunday (9:30 p.m. ET; TVAS, SN, SN1, TBS, truTV, MAX) because the Oilers have last change and can dictate matchups, though coach Kris Knoblauch would not disclose whether they would stay with right wing Zach Hyman.

“They're in control somewhat with the matchups, but there's certain guys I've got to make sure I get on the ice against them,” Canucks coach Rick Tocchet said. “We're not always going to get it and if we have other guys against them, they have to play good defense and they’ve got to be able to hold on to pucks. That's really what it comes down to, and then when you get the puck make some plays.”

Vancouver did a good job against McDavid this season, limiting him to one goal and two assists in three regular-season games, with the Edmonton center being held without a shot for the first time in his Stanley Cup Playoff career in Game 1 on Wednesday.

But when the Oilers moved Draisaitl up to McDavid’s line for Game 2, ironically to protect Draisaitl after an undisclosed injury in Game 1, the Canucks didn’t have any answers.

Draisaitl and McDavid combined for eight points and nine shots on goal and were the driving force behind a third-period comeback that included the Oilers outshooting the Canucks 15-2 while spending most of their time in the Vancouver end.

“That was a different look for sure to put them on the same line, so definitely we've got to do a better job,” Canucks defenseman Nikita Zadorov said. “It felt like we made it a little bit easier on them last night.”

McDavid tied it 3-3 on a breakaway at 5:27 of the third period, one of the few times in this series that the Canucks have allowed him to exploit them with his speed off the rush. But it was how much time they spent hemmed in their own end, even when McDavid and Draisaitl weren’t on the ice, that upset Tocchet.

“When you're defending all the time, you don't have juice to play offense,” Tocchet said. “When we do have it, I think we just have to possess it more, be willing to hold it more when we move our feet, and in the third period, especially in the third, we weren't in that mode. We were in the mode of just flip pucks out. … We need some players to dig in for us. You have to dig in if you want to win.”

Like Zadorov, Tocchet felt Vancouver made things too easy on Edmonton's top players physically. McDavid played 28:12, and Draisaitl played 27:05, including more than nine minutes each of ice time in the third period.

Tocchet wants those minutes to come with a heavier toll. He felt his players backed off too much, understandably worried about losing 1-on-1 matchups if they challenged such skilled forwards.

“We're respecting them too much,” Tocchet said. “We're coming off checks. We were stick-checking too much and that was the disappointing thing for me.”

Tocchet hinted at possible lineup changes for Game 3, saying he didn’t like the game of forward Nils Hoglander, who only played 10:20 in Game 2 despite starting on a line with Elias Pettersson. He also said forwards Nils Aman, Vasily Podkolzin or Linus Karlsson might all be options to come into the lineup.

Vancouver was 23-14-4 on the road in the regular season and won all three away games in a six-game victory against the Nashville Predators in the first round but never had to deal with anything like McDavid and Draisaitl playing together.

“We built a little bit of credibility this year with our team, that we are a good road team,” Tocchet said. “It's a loud building again. We went into Nashville, that was a loud building, we overcame some stuff, and I thought we played a good road game. It's the same mentality.

“There's not a lot that you want to change just because you are on the road, other than the fact that they're going to have last change and when you're playing against the two best players in the League, you have to manage your ice, you've got to manage the puck and you've got to manage the time and space against this team. So, you need all hands on deck.”