Canucks Make Epic Game 1 Comeback vs. Oilers, Win 5-4 – Hockey Writers – Vancouver Canucks
If fans thought Round 2 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs turned out to be chaos on Tuesday when the Colorado Avalanche came back from 3-0 down against the Dallas Stars to win 4-3, the hockey gods did a lot of wild things on Wednesday. After falling into a 4-1 hole at home to the Edmonton Oilers, the Vancouver Canucks proved they are not giving up, scoring four unanswered goals to earn a 5-4 victory in Game 1 of this Canadian matchup.
Canucks Down But Not Out
The game could not have started badly for Vancouver. The Oilers jumped out to a 1-0 lead less than two minutes into the contest on a power play goal by Zach Hyman after the Canucks were called for too many men on the ice. Mattias Ekholm doubled the visitors’ lead at 15:01 to really silence the home crowd.
Related: Oilers/Canucks series to be decided by scoring
Just 53 seconds into the middle frame, it looked like the Canucks might make a statement when Dakota Joshua smartly slid the puck home after it bounced off the boards behind the Oilers net. It wasn’t to be, as Cody Ceci fired a long shot that was tested to make it 3-1, and Hyman rebounded a shot that Vancouver netminder Arturs Silovs arguably should have stopped. Elias Lindholm scored late to make it 4-2 and maybe, just maybe, give Vancouver some life.
In a testament to how quickly things can change when the stakes are so high, the entire complexities of the game turned on its head with 4:48 to go midway through the third period. JT Miller’s tricky tip-in from a sharp angle made it 4-3, causing a roar. Nikita Zadorov fired a shot from the green line that Stuart Skinner was able to handle to level the scores at 4-4. The comeback was completed 39 seconds later as Conor Garland raced down the right side of the rink, made a slap shot, and caught Skinner off guard with a five-hole biscuit slide.
Vancouver held on with a strong defense to win the day 5-4, leaving Edmonton wondering how they let this one slip.
Will Game 2 have more storybook hockey? We will find out Friday night from Vancouver.
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