Surging Oilers outplay, outlast Golden Knights to continue playoff win streak
The Oilers flipped the script on the Golden Knights. They stole home-ice advantage in Game 1, but showed us a lot more, the way they dominated Vegas to open this Western Conference Series.
LAS VEGAS — There’s something brewing here.
Something we didn’t see back in January and February, when the lines were in the blender and — as it turns out — some key pieces weren’t even active members of the Edmonton Oilers.
On Tuesday in Vegas, the Edmonton Oilers flipped the script on the Vegas Golden Knights in a 4-2, Game 1 win. They stole home-ice advantage in Game 1, but showed us a lot more, the way they dominated Vegas to open this Western Conference series.
It used to be that Edmonton played for the tie at five-on-five with the bigger, more defensively sound Golden Knights, and then tipped the balance on the power play. The Oilers’ high-end was always better than Vegas’, but if the big boys couldn’t win it, it usually didn’t get won.
Well, those days are gone.
“The power plays are few and far between. It’s only going to be a couple a game,” said Corey Perry, who scored his third playoff goal this spring, just 10 days shy of his 40th birthday. “So five-on-five, you have to be good. You have to be strong, and you have to win that territorial advantage.”
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The Oilers lost the first 10 minutes of Game 1, falling behind 2-0 after spending four minutes shorthanded thanks to a double-minor for high-sticking handed to Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. Of the final 50 minutes, Edmonton likely owned about 35 of them.
Perry scored late in the first to settle the team. Edmonton dominated the second period — the shots were 12-1 — but could not score. In Period 2 the Oilers simply were too much for Vegas, playing without stalwart defenceman Alex Pietrangelo, who was out with an illness.
“We played a really good second period with nothing to show for it, and there’s no panic,” head coach Kris Knoblauch said. “We just came out in the third and continued business.”
Leon Draisaitl tied the game just 57 seconds into the third period, and Zach Hyman rifled home the winner off the rush at 16:58. Connor Brown then sealed the deal, scoring on a late breakaway to give Edmonton just its fourth Game 1 victory in its past 14 playoff series.
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They methodically reeled the Golden Knights back in after an early 2-0 deficit, then outplayed and outlasted them. It was clinical, not to mention it was Edmonton’s fifth straight come-from-behind win in these Stanley Cup Playoffs, an NHL first.
“When we’re playing our best, we’re fast,” Hyman explained. “And when we’re fast, we wear the other team down. It’s hard to generate because you’re tired, and you have to change.
“We have experience to win games in a lot of different ways, a lot of non-traditional ways,” he said. “I think this team is built for the playoffs. We’re built with guys who have experience, who have been here, who can take their game to another level.”
Edmonton has outscored teams 17-6 in third periods during these playoffs — 18-6 if you count an overtime goal.
They haven’t started great, but boy, can they finish.
“Yes, we’d like to get a better start, score the first goal and cruise from there,” said Knoblauch. “But if you can pick a period that you’re going to be the strongest in, as a coach, you want to be the best in the third period. Because that’s when it’s going to come down to it.”
“You look at how we play, how we’ve scored,” Perry said. “Tonight, our game didn’t change. We didn’t turn the puck over. We just kept coming at them, kept putting the puck deep, and eventually made some plays off the rush. Heim’s (Hyman) made a really great shot, Brownie with a great individual effort. That’s how it’s done.”
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John Klingberg played his best game as an Oiler, making pass after pass that had press row aghast. He was so smooth, as the gamble that GM Stan Bowman took on a rehab’ing player in February looks like pure genius today.
In goal, Calvin Pickard simply did the Grant Fuhr thing — refusing to allow the third goal that could have been a back-breaker.
“They’re a stingy team,” Pickard said. “They they’re very good defensively, and you know, getting down by three is not a good recipe against them.”
So the Oilers take an early lead here in Vegas, and as the playoffs go on, they simply keep getting better. These past three games are the best they’ve looked all season long, and a five-game playoff winning streak matches a season high.
It’s as if they were saving something for the playoffs, knowing after that run a year ago that they’d need to leave something in the tank.
“I don’t know where we rank in (total) playoff games — I assume we’re very high among the NHL teams. I know we are the oldest team,” Knoblauch said. “Those players have seen a lot. A lot of good things, a lot of bad things. And during the playoffs, things fluctuate.
“There are a lot of things that can stress out the team, and no matter what happens, I think we handle it really well.”
