Canucks score late in Game 5 to take 3-2 series lead over Oilers Miller scores game winner with 33 seconds left on the clock

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In Vancouver, the Edmonton Oilers let a 2-1 lead in the opening stanza slip away form them on Thursday night.

The Canucks rallied for a 3-2 win in Game 5 to take a 3-2 lead in their second Stanley Cup Playoffs series.

J.T. Miller hit for the game winner with 33 seconds left on the game clock.

The goal came off an easy dump into the zone and a soft shot by Elias Lindholm on net. The puck deflected off Elias Pettersson to Miller at the crease for an easy tap in.

“I was open for a split second earlier and I’m glad ‘Lindy’ didn’t force it there because [Connor] McDavid was ready to go the other way and it’s one of the ones where we got a nice bounce,” Miller said. “’Petey’ went to the net and it him in the foot and off the post, and I think I got a little lucky. That puck was kind of all over the place. So, just nice to get rewarded at the end of the game.”

Game 6 is set for Edmonton on Saturday.

Arturs Silovs made 21 saves in the win.

“Almost every single guy gave us everything they had,” Vancouver coach Rick Tocchet said. “Resilient. I thought the guys were terrific tonight. They really came to play. It thought it was obviously one of our best games in the playoffs.”

The Oilers took a 2-1 lead in the first period.

Evander Kane staked the Oilers to a 1-0 lead on a strike at 4:34 of the opening stanza. He scored off a shot from the left circle.

The Canucks replied with a marker form Carson Soucy at 17:27, scoring off a shot from the left circle.

The tie lasted all of 23 seconds with Soucy turned the puck over after falling to ice on a a clearing attempt.

The fall lead to an odd man rush with Mattias Janmark scoring for a 2-1 lead at 17:50.

“I thought we got off to a great start,” the Oilers’ Connor  McDavid said. “I didn’t think we capitalized enough. We were real good in the first period, generating chances, generating power plays, and we didn’t do enough capitalizing early.”

In the middle frame, Phillip Di Giuseppe  knotted the game, 2-2, at 5:14. He scored  after a takeaway by Nils Aman behind the Oilers net, and a nifty pass for the goal.

Di Giuseppe missed two games for the birth of his son.

“It’s been crazy but it’s good emotions, I guess, so kind of on a high right now,” Di Giuseppe said. “I might choke up again, but it’s been it’s been a battle the nine months for her and obviously with my job, I’ve been away a lot and she’s been in the hospital a lot, so we’ve had a lot of family coming in and out and support us. So like I said before, it takes a village and it’s a blessing.”

Edmonton was scoreless on give power play chances in the game, and the big names on the roster went quiet.

“Obviously the power play has been really good the whole entire playoffs,” the Oilers’ Zach Hyman said. “Today was definitely a night where we would like to have had one to help the team win, especially with the chances we had. You’re not going to be perfect, right? We did some good things out there. We weren’t good enough, obviously. We didn’t generate as much as we usually do on the power play.”

Calvin Pickard made 32 saves in the loss.

“When you don’t have the puck, it looks like you’re chasing the game, and we want to have the puck a lot more and making more plays and we just want to play faster, quicker and a little more competitive,” Edmonton coach Kris Knobluach said. “The guys are trying and I think the defensive details are there, but I think the biggest thing we want to take out of this is we’ve just got to be making plays. If we’re making plays, we possess the puck and that’s when we’re the strongest.”