Boeser strikes late as Canucks’ comeback effort comes up just short in 3-2 loss to Oilers

That’s Draisaitl’s eighth goal of the playoffs and 19th point so far. Ridiculous stuff. Credit to Connor McDavid for drawing in three Canucks penalty killers to him and then finding the perfect pass to Draisaitl on this goal, too. This Oilers power play is just so dangerous.

The Canucks got a prime opportunity to even things up when Evander Kane high-sticked Tyler Myers and was assessed a double minor.

What followed was one of the most embarrassing showings the Canucks’ power play has had in recent memory. They struggled to get set up for the first two minutes, and once they did get set up, everyone stopped skating and simply waited for the Oilers’ penalty killers to come take the puck and clear the puck. It was abysmal, just like the Canucks’ showing in the first period. They were soft on pucks, lost every board battle they engaged in, and were all around bad.

The Canucks were a bit better in the second, but they still gave up some five-alarm chances that Arturs Silovs needed to be sharp on in order to keep the Canucks within one.

Eventually, the Oilers broke through when Noah Juulsen made the crucial mistake of seeking out a huge hit in a 1-0 game in the playoffs. This gave the Oilers a 2-on-1 that Ryan Nugent-Hopkins made no mistake in burying.

Between the overall play of Ian Cole and this mistake from Juulsen, the Canucks certainly missed the suspended Carson Soucy tonight.

The Canucks entered the third down by a pair of goals, and Linus Karlsson gave the Oilers their second power play opportunity of the night and a prime chance to go up by three. Again, Arturs Silovs came up huge for the Canucks and was up to 26 saves on the night early into the third.

To this point in the game, the Canucks were simply not good enough. According to naturalstattrick.com, the high-danger chances were 12-3 in favour of the Oilers at this point, and at 5v5, it was 8-1 Edmonton. That’s simply not good enough, and the Canucks hardly tested Calvin Pickard through 45 minutes of play.

Conor Garland got the Canucks on the board after a strong shift in the offensive zone, as he continues his strong performance in the playoffs.

The Canucks ramped up the pressure after this, and all of a sudden, it was the Oilers who were bending but not breaking. Every one of the Canucks’ lines looked good during this stretch, and even players like Linus Karlsson and Nils Aman helped the Canucks sustain some offensive zone time.

With 2:38 remaining on the clock, the Canucks pulled Arturs Silovs for an extra attacker and tried to even this one up.

Fittingly, it was Brock Boeser that tied this one up with 1:41 to go.

Evan Bouchard scored with 38 seconds remaining to give the Oilers a late 3-2 lead.

The Canucks made it close, but didn’t show up until it was too little too late.

This series is all tied up.

What are your thoughts on tonight’s game?