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Arturs Silovs made so many big saves in Game 3 that he had trouble remembering them all. But Leon Draisaitl didn’t seem impressed by the Vancouver Canucks rookie goaltender, who made 42 saves in Sunday’s crucial win.
The Edmonton Oilers star got the attention of Canucks fans for how he answered a question post-game about Silovs.
“Well, posts is not good goaltending,” Draisaitl said. “We can certainly do a good job of bearing down, like I said, capitalizing on our looks.”
The question to Draisaitl asked if this was a matter of the Oilers bearing down or simply an example of good goaltending, but included a mention of the number of goal posts hit.
“I think we got enough guys in here that can put the puck past him.”
Leon Draisaitl on solving Arturs Silovs. pic.twitter.com/oBLHX1Wv6S
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) May 13, 2024
When asked if the Oilers need to “go to school” on Silovs, Draisaitl was again defiant.
“I don’t think so. I think we got enough guys in here that can put the puck past him,” he said. “We’ve shown it so far. He’s obviously playing well, made some big stops for them. We just gotta be a little cleaner, look to bear down a little bit more.”
Given the firepower they have, the Oilers have good reason to be confident. But if they continue to have trouble scoring on Silovs, this will look like arrogance. Edmonton has 12 goals in the first three games of the series but just five at five-on-five. The Canucks, by comparison, have scored seven goals at five-on-five and 12 in total.
Draisaitl is leading the NHL playoffs in scoring, with 18 points in eight games. Despite playing through what appears to be a nagging back injury, Draisaitl has eight points in three games against the Canucks — with five coming at even strength. He played nearly half of Game 3 — receiving a whopping 29:04 of ice time.
Silovs, who only had nine games of NHL experience coming into the playoffs, has started six postseason games for the Canucks. The 23-year-old Latvian has a 4-2 record and a .908 save percentage.
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