The Edmonton Oilers are down 2-1 in their second-round series against the Vancouver Canucks. Edmonton’s latest loss, a 4-3 defeat on Sunday night, featured some extra sourness after the final buzzer involving Connor McDavid, the team’s superstar center.

McDavid, who was held off the scoresheet for the first time during this year’s playoffs, was the recipient of a one-two punch from two Canucks defenders that led to him getting a face full of Carson Soucy’s stick. The high cross-check dropped McDavid but the Oilers’ captain was able to get back to his feet and fortunately seemed no worse for wear after he made his way off the ice.

The rough stuff was kicked off by a slashing battle between McDavid and Soucy after time had expired. Soucy’s teammate, Nikita Zadorov, retaliated against McDavid with a cross-check to the back which sent a doubled-over McDavid right into Soucy’s stick.

Soucy was given the only penalty for the post-buzzer scrum, a two-minute minor penalty for cross-checking. However, according to Rink Wide: Vancouver’s Irfaan Gaffar, the NHL and their Department of Player Safety are reviewing the play for potential supplemental discipline.

Zadorov was also involved in an earlier scrap with Evander Kane after he sent Kane flying into the Oilers bench. The big Russian blueliner gave Kane a few extra shots and received a roughing penalty for his troubles. The Edmonton bench was also issued a roughing minor on the play.

Edmonton is leaning very hard on McDavid to try and steer them through this series so the added physicality against him is just more wear and tear on top of playing nearly half of the last two games. His 29:42 of ice time in the Game 3 loss is the all-time, third-highest total from a forward in a non-overtime playoff game. He played 28:12 in Game 2.

The Oilers’ primary issue is they can’t find scoring from anyone not on their top line or top defense pairing. Players not named McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, Zach Hyman, Evan Bouchard, or Mattias Ekholm have only amassed seven points (1g, 6a) against the Canucks. Four of those assists come from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins

Vancouver now has the opportunity to take a commanding 3-1 series lead if they win both games in Edmonton although they may have to do so without Soucy. Game 4 is scheduled for a 9:30 pm ET puck drop on Tuesday.

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