Zach Hyman scored the go-ahead goal with 3:02 remaining and Connor Brown sealed the win 76 seconds later as the Edmonton Oilers rallied to defeat the Vegas Golden Knights 4-2 in Game 1 of the Western Conference second round on Tuesday night in Las Vegas.
Hyman buried a wrist shot from the slot past goalie Adin Hll’s glove side for the game-winner — his third tally of the playoffs.
“It’s big,” Hyman said. “You steal one from them at home and now you have an opportunity to really put them on their heels. Yeah, it feels good obviously to get the first one here.”
Brown added his fourth goal when he deked defenseman Shea Theodore at the blue line, broke down the slot and fired a wrist shot past Hill’s glove side. That completed the Oilers’ fifth straight comeback win in the playoffs.
“We have belief, and we have incredible depth,” Hyman said. “I think all lines are contributing. Everybody feels like they have a role, everybody feels important, everybody is important on this team. It’s a great feeling. Obviously, we’ve got to keep it up. Nice to win a Game 1.”
Edmonton is the first team in Stanley Cup playoffs history with five straight comeback victories in a single postseason.
Leon Draisaitl had a goal and an assist, Connor McDavid and Evan Bouchard each had two assists and Corey Perry also scored for Edmonton, which had a four-game playoff winning streak snapped. Calvin Pickard finished with 15 saves.
Mark Stone scored both goals and Hill made 24 saves for Vegas, which had a streak of five Game 1 playoff wins snapped. Stone moved into a tie with Jonathan Marchessault for the franchise record with 36 postseason goals.
“Obviously not the outcome we wanted,” Stone said. “There were some good parts of the game, some bad parts of the game. We’ll go over it, get ready for Thursday night’s game because it’s going to be a big one for us.”
Vegas took a 1-0 lead at the 2:13 mark of the first period on a power-play goal by Stone. Vegas took advantage of an early double-minor penalty on Ryan Nugent-Hopkins for high-sticking Tomas Hertl along the end boards.
The score came on a double deflection of Theodore’s point shot, which changed direction off the stick of William Karlsson and then deflected off Stone’s stick, clanged off the left post and went into the net.
Stone made it 2-0 midway through the period with a wrist shot from the low slot five-hole. It came off Jack Eichel’s pass.
The Oilers cut the deficit to 2-1 near the end of the period when Perry took a pass from McDavid by the left side of the crease and then wrapped a wrist shot around Hill’s left pad. It was his third goal of the playoffs.
Edmonton dominated a scoreless second period, outshooting the Golden Knights 12-1, but couldn’t take advantage of two power plays. Adam Henrique had the best chance to tie it, but his wrist shot from the high slot caromed off the crossbar.
“They elevated their game today, and I don’t think we did halfway through the game,” said Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy. “I think it’s that simple. They were just better than us.”
The Oilers tied it 2-2 just 57 seconds into the third period when Draisaitl, behind the goal line, backhanded a rebound of Bouchard’s shot that banked in off the back of Hill’s right leg. It was his fourth goal of the playoffs.
–Field Level Media
