EDMONTON, AB – ‘Good Knight’ said the Edmonton Oilers captain in extra time.
Connor McDavid scored the game-winner 1:17 into overtime, beating Adin Hill over the left shoulder off another sublime rush by #97 to earn Edmonton the extra point in a 3-2 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights in a hotly-contested Pacific Division battle on Saturday night at Rogers Place.
Stuart Skinner was exceptional, making 31 saves on 34 shots in his third straight start between the pipes for the Oilers to help improve Edmonton’s record to 10-8-0 heading into a three-game road trip through New York this coming week.
Warren Foegele continued his hot streak with his third goal in five games, while Draisaitl and Zach Hyman chipped in their ninth and tenth respective goals of the campaign in the win. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was a maestro with his passes on Saturday, contributing with three assists
FIRST BLOOD
The Oilers flipped the script on a fast-starting Golden Knights side by getting on the board first through Warren Foegele‘s third goal of the season.
Vegas came into Saturday’s tilt as one of the league leaders in scoring first, doing so 13 times this season — second only to the Dallas Stars (14 times) — and turning 11 of those early leads into victories. Edmonton, meanwhile, had given up the opening goal in 10 of its 17 games this campaign.
Defenceman Ryan Murray sent a slap-shot pass to Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who drifted into the slot and let go a wrister that was saved by the left pad of Adin Hill before it rebounded into the danger area for Foegele to easily slide home a backhand just 1:56 into the hockey game.
Foegele is enjoying a nice hot streak on a line with Leon Draisaitl, scoring three goals in his last five games.
Video: VGK@EDM: Foegele nets goal to kick off scoring in 1st
VEGAS VENGEANCE
The first period saw the Oilers and Golden Knights alternate strong spells of pressure, with Foegele’s goal coming on the third of three straight shots from the Blue & Orange to begin the game before Vegas enjoyed a pair of powerplays, eight shots in a row on Stuart Skinner and a fortunate equalizing goal in the final five minutes of the first frame.
Keegan Kolesar had a point shot by Shea Theodore strike him in the back and arch into the net over Skinner, squaring the two Pacific Division sides at 1-1 through 20 minutes. On the other side of the intermission, Mark Stone was awarded a penalty shot off a hook by Darnell Nurse and gave Vegas the lead by beating Skinner five-hole on the 1-on-1 just over four minutes into the middle frame to lift the division leaders into a one-goal lead.
DRAI DRAWS LEVEL
In the exhaustive compendium of Draisaitl’s career goals, the German’s second-period strike was a certified classic. Everything from the start of the shift with the breakout to the final finish was excellent, as the Oilers second line and top defensive pairing put on a clinic to equalize the score.
Darnell Nurse delivered the perfect cross-ice pass to Draisaitl, who was waiting at his trademark spot in the left circle awaiting a one-timer. Instead of ripping it right when the puck landed on his stick, the German cradled the puck until Hill had slid into a desperate position before wristing the equalizing goal over the Vegas netminder to reach double digits for goals on the season ten-and-a-half minutes into the middle frame.
Video: VGK@EDM: Draisaitl evens the score in 2nd period
SAVE OF THE GAME
With the Oilers on a late man advantage in the second period, ‘SKINNERRRRR!’ came up with a big stop to save the bacon of the Oilers powerplay in front of him.
Jonathan Marchessault cheated up the ice shorthanded and gloved down a clearance before taking off up the ice on a partial 2-on-0 with William Karlsson. Marchessault passed off to Karlsson, who tried to slide it five-hole on Skinner, but the Oilers netminder shut the door to bail out his teammates and keep things level heading into the second intermission.
Skinner has started the last three games for the Oilers in what’s been the longest stretch of starts for the Edmonton, AB product’s young NHL career.
WON THE RACE, ONE-GOAL LEAD
Win a puck race and get rewarded. Simple as that, sometimes.
Tyson Barrie won a race against Reilly Smith to a loose puck on the powerplay near the Vegas blueline before pushing the puck down to Ryan Nugent-Hopkins at the top of the left circle. The Oilers forward then delivered a turn-around feed onto the tape of McDavid at the opposite circle, where the captain slid a pass back across to Zach Hyman, who dropped to one knee and one-timed the go-ahead marker past the sliding hill on the carry-over man advantage just 38 seconds into the final frame.
Video: VGK@EDM: Hyman scores PPG in 3rd period
CONNOR CALLS GAME
Leave it to Connor in extra time.
Stone’s snipe midway through the third period to send the game to overtime had nothing on another incredible goal from Edmonton’s enigmatic captain. Draisaitl sifted the puck into open ice for McDavid to pick up speed and come rushing into the Vegas zone, beating the tracking Golden Knights d-man before beating Hill up top for the game-winner and his 16th goal of the season 1:17 into overtime.
Video: VGK@EDM: McDavid scores in OT
PARTING WORDS
Check back for reaction to tonight’s game following post-game media avails.