Arturs Silovs is picking up where he left off in the playoffs.
The 23-year-old Latvian goalie stopped 18 shots on Tuesday — including some highlight reel-worthy plays — and backstopped his Vancouver Canucks to a 3-1 pre-season victory over the Seattle Kraken.
Silovs was characteristically unperturbed following the win.
“You have to perform, I think. It doesn’t matter which game you play, do the best as you can,” he said.
The attitude was no surprise to Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet, who saw firsthand how even-keeled Silovs stayed last spring when he was elevated from Vancouver’s third-string netminder to its No. 1 goalie in the middle of a playoff run.
“When you call his name, it doesn’t matter. Playoffs or pre-season game. He’s just a very calm kid, you can tell,” he said.
Silovs is once again facing a weighty situation.
He’s played just nine regular-season NHL games, but the six-foot-four, 203-pound goaltender looks poised to be Vancouver’s No. 1 to start the campaign as all-star netminder Thatcher Demko continues to heal from injury to a muscle in his knee.
Silovs has modelled his chill nature off the veteran goalie, Tocchet said.
“There were some breakdowns (Tuesday) where he was right there in position,” the coach said. “He just doesn’t get rattled. You can see that demeanour in him.”
At the other end of the rink, Vancouver showcased some potent special teams Tuesday, going 2-for-6 on the man advantage and holding the Kraken scoreless on their two power plays.
“Special teams are such a big part of the league now,” said defenceman Tyler Myers. “You want to get those dialled in now and really start working at it, look at video as much as you can to get the structure in place. But it was a good start for the first game.”
Nils Hoglander and Filip Hronek each had a power-play goal for the Canucks, who were playing their first of six games before the NHL’s regular season begins.
Pius Sutter added an empty net tally at 18:10 of the third period, and Swedish prospect Jonathan Lekkerimaki contributed a pair of assists.
Ben Meyers responded for a Kraken side that lost its second game of the pre-season after dropping a 6-1 decision to the Calgary Flames on Sunday.
Joey Daccord made 17 saves for Seattle before he was replaced by Ales Stezka in the final frame. Stezka stopped all six shots that came his way.
Silovs had to be sharp early after Lekkerimaki turned the puck over deep in Canucks territory less than four minutes into the game. Yanni Gourde picked it up and launched a shot that glanced off Silovs’ pads.
The Canucks put their power play to work after Kraken defenceman Ty Nelson was called for cross-checking Sutter.
Vancouver capitalized 36 seconds into the man advantage with a tick-tack-toe play that saw Aatu Raty fire a pass to Linus Karlsson, who quickly flipped it to Hoglander at the top of the crease. The Swedish winger snapped a shot in to give the Canucks a 1-0 lead 16:35 into the game.
Raty said the play is one he and Karlsson utilized several times for the Abbotsford Canucks in the American Hockey League last season.
“I think, especially against that kind of triangle PK, it’s kind of the only play you have,” Raty said. “So we tried to exploit it, and it worked.”
The home side boosted its lead to two goals before the end of the second, thanks to another power play.
Daccord was called for delay of game after he played the puck outside of the trapezoid and Jaden Schwartz headed to the box to serve the infraction.
After some patient passing around the perimeter, Hronek collected the puck from Brock Boeser and unleashed a long bomb that sailed through traffic and in past the Kraken netminder 17:48 into the period.
Seattle bit into the deficit 10 seconds into the third when Vancouver couldn’t control the puck off the opening faceoff.
Schwartz came up with it and dashed down the ice, sending it across the slot to Meyers, who popped it in under Silovs, cutting the Canucks lead to 2-1.
The goalie kept Vancouver up with about three minutes to go, diving to the side of the net to stop Andre Burakovsky from putting in an equalizer.
The Kraken pulled Stezka late in the third, and Sutter fended off a pair of defenders to send a long shot into the empty net with 70 seconds left on the game clock.
NOTES
Before the game, the Canucks held a 13-second moment of silence to honour Johnny and Matthew Gaudreau, who were killed at the end of August by a suspected drunk driver. … Vancouver also had members of a local First Nations participate in a ceremonial puck drop to mark the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
UP NEXT
Vancouver: Battles the Flames in Abbotsford, B.C., on Wednesday.
Seattle: Hosts the Canucks in a rematch on Friday.