Instant Reaction: Brock Boeser scores late hat trick and Elias Lindholm scores OT winner as Canucks take game four in Nashville

The big question on everyone’s mind today was how Arturs Silovs would fair in the Vancouver goal crease. Silovs faced two early tests that he looked sharp on, stymying some early pressure from Nashville.

JT Miller won an offensive zone draw and sent a nice cross-ice feed that resulted in Brock Boeser opening the scoring on the Canucks’ first shot of the game.

Nashville continued to try to pepper Silovs with shots, and despite the young Latvian netminder looking calm and poised early on, Nashville eventually broke through after some subpar defending from Elias Pettersson and Filip Hronek after an uncharacteristic puck bobble from Quinn Hughes.

Hughes was a heavy target in game three, with Nashville recording nine hits on the Canucks captain. That continued in this game, as the Predators did their best to make life difficult on Hughes.

The second period got off to a bad start for the Canucks, as Pius Suter failed to get a shot off on a partial breakaway chance before Nashville went the other way and scored on a 2-on-1 as Gus Nyquist beat Arturs Silovs glove side.

JT Miller manufactured a solid offensive chance for Pius Suter, but Suter hit the cross bar. The Canucks were starting to spend some more time in the Nashville end and create some more offence, but Nashville still held a one-goal lead. The Canucks had a power play opportunity toward the end of the second period, but the only thing that came from it was a lowlight, as Elias Pettersson exhibited a gross lack of hustle on the backcheck after turning over a puck in the offensive end. Silovs stood tall, and made the saves he needed to to keep his team down by just a single goal heading into the third period.

The third period got started off in the worst way possible, as Nashville scored 12 seconds into the period on what certainly looked like a kick from Filip Forsberg.

Rick Tocchet’s coaching staff didn’t have the option of challenging the play; only the league can review goasl for kicks. The Predators kept pouring on the pressure from there, and the Canucks simply looked outmatched. Quinn Hughes was certainly

I don’t think words do justice to just how awful Elias Pettersson was today, so I’ll leave it to Wyatt Arndt’s Stanchies to dissect all the stumbles, lack of effort on puck battles, and everything else that led to one of Pettersson’s worst games a Canuck.

With three minutes to go in the third, down by two, the Canucks pulled Arturs Silovs and went to work with the extra attacker. Brock Boeser scored his second goal of the game to bring the Canucks within one.

Silovs headed to the bench once again, and Colton Sissons hit a post to keep the Canucks’ hopes alive. Brock Boeser worked his magic again, recording the hat trick goal to tie this one up with under ten seconds to go.

A special shoutout is in order for Quinn Hughes on that goal, as his move at the line absolutely ethered the Nashville player and jumpstarted this play. The Canucks needed someone — anyone — to step up for them today, and Brock Boeser became that person when it seemed like nobody else was going to. The Canucks had nothing going for them, and somehow forced overtime. That was an achievement in itself, but that’s not where the Canucks wanted this story to end. They wanted to head into overtime and head home with a 3-1 series lead.

Elias Lindholm wasted little time before playing overtime hero.

Half the Canucks bench went to Lindholm, and the other half went to Arturs Silovs. This wasn’t a pretty one by any means, but the Canucks got the job done in the end.

What’s your instant reaction to this game? Let us know in the comments section below!

Be sure to check out our post game show, Rink Wide Vancouver! Eddie Lack joins Irfaan Gaffar as a cohost before Jeff Paterson wires in live from Nashville! You can watch the live stream below!