Leon Draisaitl didn’t sound too keen to give Arturs Silovs much credit for the Vancouver Canucks’ win over the Edmonton Oilers in their playoff matchup on Sunday night.
The sharp-shooting Oilers star netted his seventh goal of the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs in Game 3 against the Canucks on Sunday but was stymied on his other four shots by the Latvian goaltender, who made 42 saves to help Vancouver take a 2-1 series lead.
Draisaitl was one of three Oilers players officially credited with hitting the post in Game 3. In his post-game media scrum, Draisaitl seemed convinced that the iron had more to do with the Canucks winning the game than the play of their goaltender.
Reporter: You guys hit four or five goalposts tonight. You generated chances. How much of that is bearing down, and how much of it is good goaltending or luck?
Draisaitl: Well, [the] post is not good goaltending. But yeah, we can certainly do a better job of bearing down and, like I said, capitalizing on our looks.
Silovs, 23, has posted a 4-2 record through the first six playoff appearances of his NHL career, stopping 158 of the 174 shots he’s faced for a .908 save percentage. He was recognized for his efforts on Sunday by being named the game’s second star.
The Canucks originally selected Silovs in the sixth round (No. 156 overall) of the 2019 NHL Draft. The Riga, Latvia product made his NHL debut with the Canucks during the 2022-23 regular season and already seems to have supplanted Casey DeSmith as the team’s No. 2 goaltender behind the injured Thatcher Demko.
Asked after the game about the saves he made on Draisaitl, Silovs deadpanned his response: “Which one?”
Silovs first captured the attention of the hockey world with Team Latvia at the 2023 IIHF World Championship, backstopping the team to its first-ever bronze medal and being named tournament MVP. He then went 16-11-6 with a .907 save percentage in 34 AHL games with the Abbotsford Canucks in the 2023-24 season.
Brock Boeser and Elias Lindholm both scored twice as the Canucks defeated the Oilers by a 4-3 score in Game 3 on Sunday. The Oilers outshot the Canucks 45 to 18 in the losing effort.
With the series now tilted in the Canucks’ favour, the two teams will reconvene at Rogers Place in Edmonton for Game 4 on Tuesday evening.