In Vancouver, the Canucks broke out to a 3-0 lead over the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday night.
The Canucks forgot about the rest of the game and surrendered four straight goals to the Oilers, including three in the third period to drop a 4-3 decision.
Dominik Kahun struck for two goals for the Oilers.
“After the second period we were down 3-1 and we knew we were going to turn this around,” Kahun said. “That’s something special. I don’t know how to explain it. You just have the feeling here that it doesn’t matter what the score is, we can come back.”
Mike Smith made 30 saves to get the win after settling down.
“That win right there carries some weight to it,” Smith said. “I think our team was feeling really good after that game. And hopefully we gain a lot of confidence from it
Elias Pettersson, Tyler Myers and Bo Horvat scored in the opening frame for a 3-0 lead.
“I’m getting sick and tired of having leads and giving them back and playing well in periods in the game and then not playing a full 60 minutes,” Horvat said. “Again, we did it tonight and it came back to bite us.”
The Canucks dropped to 8-13-2.
“Very disappointing, very upsetting,” Canucks head coach Travis Green said. “We didn’t play good enough to win, flat out.”
Connor McDavid knotted the game up at 3-3 in the third period.
“I’ve been in a lot of games where it can go one of two ways and I didn’t want it to go the wrong way,” Smith said. “I just told myself ‘let’s just try to keep the team in the game here.’ I know we can score goals. I know we can play a lot better than we did in the first. And we showed that, and we got a massive, massive two points.”
Tyler Ennis was credited with the game-winner on a deflection just past the midway point of the final frame.
Thatcher Demko made 25 saves in the heartbreaking loss.
“You give players like that time and space and the ability to take over a hockey game, and they’re going to do it.” Horvat said. “It’s frustrating, but it just shows we have to mature.”
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