Connor Ingram made 24 saves and Connor McDavid had a pair of assists to lead the Edmonton Oilers to a 4-2 victory over the slumping Vegas Golden Knights on Sunday night in Las Vegas.
Trent Frederic, Vasily Podkolzin, Leon Draisaitl and Kasperi Kapanen scored goals for Edmonton, which closed to within three points of Pacific Division-leading Anaheim with the win.
Jack Eichel scored a short-handed goal, Mitch Marner had two assists and Noah Hanifin also scored for Vegas, which lost for the fifth time in the last six games. Adin Hill stopped 15 of 18 shots for the Golden Knights.
Edmonton, which had two shots carom off the post in a scoreless first period, took a 1-0 lead at the 3:21 mark of the second period. Evan Bouchard skated behind the net and passed to Frederic stationed in front of the crease. Frederic then swatted in a rebound of his first try.
Vegas, which had a Keegan Kolesar goal wiped off the scoreboard when the Oilers successfully challenged that he was offside entering the zone, tied it midway through the period on Hanifin’s first goal since Dec. 9. Hanifin fired a point shot from inside the blue line that deflected off the stick of Edmonton defenseman Darnell Nurse, who was jostling with Brett Howden in front of the net. The puck went into the top left corner past Ingram’s blocker side.
Podkolzin put the Oilers in front, 2-1, early in the third period when he scooped up an offensive zone faceoff draw that was pulled back by Tomas Hertl, split defenseman Jeremy Lauzon and Rasmus Andersson and scored on a breakaway, sliding in a wrist shot that hit Hill’s right skate and trickled over the goal line.
Draisaitl made it 3-1 at the 11:53 mark when he took a McDavid pass at the bottom of the left circle and then put a backhand shot in through Hill’s pads.
Eichel cut the lead to 3-2 with 3:17 to go with his third career short-handed goal. The Golden Knights pulled Hill for an extra attacker, and Kapanen sealed the win with an empty-netter off a McDavid pass with 1:57 remaining.
–Field Level Media
