Canucks prospect Arturs Silovs stops a shot with his mask and leads Latvia to shootout win

Arturs Silovs is doing all he can to catch your attention.

After entering yesterday’s game in relief of Elvis Merzlikins for his home country of Latvia at the IIHF World Championship in Finland, Silovs was given the start vs. Austria and led his team to victory on Friday.

The 21-year-old Silovs, who the Canucks selected in the sixth round of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft, stopped 29 of the 32 shots he faced through 65 minutes of play. He then shut the door on four of five Austrian shootout attempts to help Latvia win by a score of 4-3, and ultimately, avoid relegation while picking up their first win of the tournament.

“For me I was really [hoping] that my team was going to score,” said Silovs post game. “I knew I could stop them so I was just thinking ‘Guys, score! We’re going to win this!’ I haven’t played the Austrians a lot, I played them back in juniors but not any more. It’s an important win.”

Showing shades of Eddie Lack, Silovs revealed post game that a sequence which resulted in a shot ringing off his Canucks-coloured mask was no accident.

After stopping an initial shot off the rush, Silovs dealt with the rebound chance, which was labelled for the top shelf, by leaning forward and stopping the shot with his mask.

“I was just making the save,” said Silovs, confirming that the mask save was no accident. “I was going with my head because I knew I can’t do anything with the glove so I had to go with the head.”

In 10 games with the Abbotsford Canucks this season, Silovs posted a 3–6–0 record and an .888 save percentage.

As we told you last offseason — and likely will again a few more times this offseason — there are plenty of reasons to be high on Arturs Silovs.