May 15, 2024 by Ryan Lotsberg

The Edmonton Oilers defeated the Vancouver Canucks by a score of 3-2 in Game 4 on Tuesday night. The Oilers got last minute goals in the second and third periods on their way to the Game 4 victory. The Canucks clawed their way back to tie the game after being down 2-0 to start the thrid period, but the Oilers got a the victory thanks to some late game heroics.

Call Outs

Ideally, the Oilers would’ve found a way to ride out the late surge from the Canucks to win this game 2-1; but they gave up the lead late. Both of the Canucks goals were deflections, one off of Darnell Nurse and the other off of Dakota Joshua. Those are tough breaks that are going to happen from time to time. Honestly, there really wasn’t much to criticize about this game for the Oilers.

Stand Outs

Calvin Pickard stopped 19 of 21 shots to earn the victory in his first NHL playoff start. The 32-year old veteran journeyman goaltender was thrust into the biggest game of his life, and he was fantastic. He started this season as the third goalie on the depth chart, and he just got his first playoff start and win. Pickard has been solid when needed throughout this season. Kudos to him.

Bouchard scored his second game-winning goal of the series. He added an assist, four shots, and two blocked shots in a team leading 24:20 of ice time. 

Shout Outs

Mattias Ekholm made two subtle but gigantic plays in this game. Noah Juulsen stepped up to hit Ekholm at the offensive blue line. Ekholm cut to the middle, took the hit, and made a short pass to Nugent-Hopkins who went in and scored to put the Oilers up 2-0. Ekholm used his skate to keep the puck in the zone on the sequence that led to Bouchard’s game winning goal. That goal likely wouldn’t have been scored if Ekholm had not kept that puck in the offensive zone. He had four shots, three shot blocks, and a hit in 24:20 of ice time (tied with Bouchard for the team lead).

Leon Draisaitl scored another powerplay goal from his usual spot to give the Oilers a 1-0 lead in the first period. He also made a great pass to Bouchard from behind the goal line for an assist on the game winning goal.

Dylan Holloway finished with the sixth most ice time among Oiler forwards for the second straight game. Head coach Kris Knoblauch praised Holloway ahead of Game 4, and his ice time in the last two games has shown that Holloway has earned Knoblauch’s trust. Holloway didn’t record a point, but he gets a shout out for doing well with increased responsibility.

Wrap

The Oilers played a solid game in Game 4. They led for the vast majority of the game, and they didn’t give up many chances to the Canucks. The Oilers stayed out of their own way to win this game.

Retribution was a storyline heading into this game after the Carson Soucy cross check to Connor McDavid’s neck. The Oilers didn’t do anything to retaliate, but Corey Perry found a way to have some fun with it. There was a scrum after a whistle in the third period. Perry wasn’t quite involved in the scrum, but he was by the pile waiting for a Canuck to come at him. Brock Boeser didn’t come at Perry, but stood close to him. Perry raised his stick and just held it in line with Boeser’s neck while maintaining eye contact. It was a small bit of the type of gamesmanship that we’re accustomed to seeing from Perry over the years and that the Oilers will need more of over the course of this playoff run.

Game 5 goes on Thursday night in Vancouver.

Related: Call Outs, Stand Outs, and Shout Outs: Canucks Top Oilers in Game 3