The Edmonton Oilers‘ sixth straight playoff win was their steepest and scrappiest of the half dozen.
In Thursday’s 5-4 overtime victory over the Vegas Golden Knights, Edmonton lost the special-teams battle, turned the puck over multiple times to start overtime, couldn’t produce an OT winner during a five-minute power play and the dynamic duo of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl was held off the scoresheet until they combined for the winner.
“It wasn’t pretty. Not pretty at all,” McDavid said.
The Oilers nevertheless take a 2-0 lead from T-Mobile Arena back to Edmonton in their second-round series. Game 3 is Saturday at Rogers Place.
“It means nothing if we’re not ready to go at home,” McDavid said. “Two good efforts here, but it means nothing if we’re not ready to roll for Game 3.”
For the first time since 2017 in Anaheim, the Oilers won two road games to start a series, although the Ducks won that second-round matchup in seven games.
The Oilers were already the first NHL team to win five straight playoff games coming from behind. Edmonton gave up the first goal again Thursday for the seventh time in eight games.
Working in Edmonton’s favour was depth scoring and goaltender Calvin Pickard’s best game of the six he’s started since replacing Stuart Skinner after Game 2 of the first round against the Los Angeles Kings.
Pickard’s 28 saves included multiple high-danger chances for Vegas, including three in a row to start overtime when the Oilers couldn’t get out of their own end.
“Not too often after a game where a goalie lets in four goals, you’re raving about how well he played,” Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said. “Tonight, the amount of good quality chances that we gave up, Picks, he stole one for us.”
Vasily Podkolzin and defenceman Jake Walman scored their first NHL playoff goals for a 2-1 Oilers lead early in the second period.
Edmonton foot soldiers Victor Arvidsson, with two assists, Podkolzin and Mattias Janmark were Edmonton’s most effective trio early in the game.
“Our depth has been for the most part carrying us through these playoffs and they’re the reason we’re in this spot right now,” Draisaitl said.
Darnell Nurse and Evander Kane also scored, but the Oilers couldn’t shut the door on the 2023 Stanley Cup champions in regulation time with leads of 3-1 and 4-2.
The Golden Knights converted two of four power play chances into goals. Top defenceman Alex Pietrangelo scored the third-period equalizer after sitting out Game 1 with illness.
“I felt we outplayed the Oilers for the most part of the game and deserved a better fate,” Golden Knights head coach Bruce Cassidy said.
Edmonton didn’t score on three power play chances, including a five-minute advantage in OT when Nicolas Roy served a major for cross-checking Trent Frederic in the face.
“I thought Picks held us in,” McDavid said. “I thought we were fortunate to find a way to be up two a couple of times there. Didn’t close it out. We’d like to score one on the power play there. Five minutes. Not our group’s best, but found a way.”
The Oilers also escaped without a penalty when Arvidsson got his stick under the legs of Brayden McNabb, who slid heavily into the boards.
Cassidy said referee Gord Dwyer was “looking at it. He blew it. He missed the call.”
“I don’t know what else to say. I mean, it’s a can-opener trip,” Cassidy continued. “It’s a dangerous play. It’s all those things, but it didn’t get called, so you got to keep playing.”
Knoblauch separated McDavid and Draisaitl into different lines for a few shifts in the third period to prod their production. Their collaboration in overtime was electric.
McDavid vaulted over the stick of Golden Knights forward Jack Eichel to feed Draisaitl on a two-on-one at 15:20 of the extra period.
“Not our best, not my best, but we found a way,” McDavid said. “That’s what we get paid to do, paid to score goals in big moments.”
Added Knoblauch: “When you’ve got elite talent, those game breakers, they just need a moment or an opportunity to make that play. Not too often they’re quiet for an entire game, and don’t show up on the score sheet. Tonight when we needed them the most, they made the heck of a play there.”
Edmonton won six straight playoff games for the first time since 2006, when the Oilers lost the Stanley Cup final to the Carolina Hurricanes in seven games.
Comments