Canucks overcome slow start, 3-goal deficit to win Game 1 against Oilers

VANCOUVER -- The Vancouver Canucks were down but never felt overwhelmed by the Edmonton Oilers in Game 1 of the Western Conference Second Round at Rogers Arena on Wednesday.

Coming back from a 4-1 deficit to win 5-4 with three goals in the third period was not exactly how it was scripted, but Vancouver felt it deserved to take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-7 series with Game 2 here Friday (10 p.m. ET; CBC, TVAS, SN, SN360, TNT, truTV, MAX).

“There's a lot of belief in this group. We’ve done it before in Nashville,” Canucks defenseman Nikita Zadorov said. “I don't think anybody is giving up. Even when we were down 4-1 we were staying positive because we liked our 5-on-5 game. They got a couple bounces, they have a lot of skill, they're [going to] bury their chances, but you got to give credit to every guy in this room, and Arturs [Silvos] stood with us at the end, too. So, it was overall a great team win, for sure.”

The Oilers felt they let one get away, jumping out to a three-goal lead behind two goals from Zach Hyman and one each from defensemen Mattias Ekholm and Cody Ceci. But coach Kris Knoblauch admitted the game was not that lopsided early on.

“I don’t think you divide that game into the first half and the second half,” Knoblauch said. “The first half we had a huge lead at 4-1, but do I think we were that much better than them? [Stuart Skinner] made some pretty big saves. You think about the breakaway, then we had a power play and scored a goal, but 5-on-5, I don’t think we were much better than them.

“In the second half, they obviously had a lot more goals than we did, but did I think they were that much better than us in the second half? No. Sometimes that’s the way it works.”

Elias Lindholm started the comeback at 17:01 of the second period, banking a shot in off Skinner’s stick from behind the net to cut it to 4-2. A tip from J.T. Miller and blast from Zadorov tied the game, then Conor Garland scored the winning goal on a rush down the right side, faking a shot before sliding the puck between the pads of Skinner at 14:26.

“I don't know if anyone was thinking we deserved better (after two periods),” Canucks captain Quinn Hughes said. “I think you're in the moment and you're just trying to push each other and every shift without getting away from what our game style is and our structure, and I thought we did that.

“We stuck with it and we didn't get panicked and start pinching and giving them free looks. I thought throughout the whole game we kind of stuck to what we kind of wanted to do and then waited for opportunities, which we had.”

Going into the series, the Canucks game plan was to play physical but stay out of the penalty box, but one shift into the game Vancouver was called for too many men on the ice. The Oilers scored on the ensuing power play.

After the initial shock of going down early wore off, Vancouver started to get into a good rhythm, and even after it went down 2-0 at 15:01 of the first, it still felt good about its game.

“We're always confident. No matter what the score is, we're going to keep playing hard and keep playing the same way, and tonight was an example of it. Just stay with it and we got our bounces tonight,” Canucks forward Dakota Joshua said. “I think that's one of the good qualities of our team is that we know that we have depth, and we know that's a strength that we need to use to our advantage. Tonight was a great example. Again, so many guys involved and in a lot of ways.”

Joshua scored 53 seconds into the second period to get the hometown crowd into the game and cut the deficit to 2-1. Despite outshooting the Oilers 11-4 in the period, the Canucks gave up two quick goals to fall behind by three.

“It’s a resilient group. Sometimes we’re not pretty,” Canucks coach Rick Tocchet said. “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. I thought everyone had something to contribute tonight, there were no passengers.”

Once the Canucks got momentum on their side, the Oilers were unable to hold off the wave.

“I think it was more the timing of the goals. We know it’s going to be a great atmosphere in here, and it’s going to be that for us at home as well,” Ekholm said. “It’s just tough when they get the go-ahead goal with four minutes left. That’s kind of when you have to throw a Hail Mary at them. I thought we tried, I thought we battled at the end, but it didn’t work out for us. But we have to learn from the mistakes we did in the last 10 minutes, but I’m really encouraged by the way we played the first 50.”

The Oilers have lost all five games against the Canucks this season by a margin of 26-11. Game 1 was as close as Edmonton has come to beating Vancouver.

“They’re a good team and they were doing everything they could to come back and we were doing everything we could to hold on to the lead,” Oilers captain Connor McDavid said. “That happens in the playoffs, you try to hold on to a lead and sometimes you’re maybe a little too passive. I thought we were doing a good job of holding on to the lead, but they find a way to get two and find a way to get a third to win.”