An own goal gave the Edmonton Oilers a chance at another come-from-behind win in the NHL playoffs, but an own goal in the last second of the game took it away.
Reilly Smith’s shot behind sprawling Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner deflected off the stick of Leon Draisaitl and into Edmonton’s net with four-tenths of a second remaining on the clock Saturday in a 4-3 victory for the Vegas Golden Knights.
Edmonton leads the best-of-seven, second-round series 2-1, but it was a stunning way for the Oilers to lose Game 3 at Rogers Place.
Oilers captain Connor McDavid tied the game by firing the puck off the skate of Golden Knights defenceman Brayden McNabb and into the Vegas net with just over three minutes remaining.
There were just eight seconds left on the clock when William Karlsson skated the puck out of the Vegas zone. He carried the puck deep and threw it out front for Smith to grab and take to Skinner’s right with the buzzer looming.
“We didn’t sort it out very well to let the puck get into the slot, but I think after that, it’s just unlucky, it’s unfortunate, it goes off my stick,” Draisaitl said. “I’m just trying to keep it out of the net. It’s a bad bounce.”
Game 4 is Monday at Rogers Place and Game 5 is Wednesday back at T-Mobile Arena.
“It stings right now. It’s an unfortunate way to lose but that’s on us,” Draisaitl said. “Tomorrow’s a new day we’ll move on.”
Edmonton scored the first goal of the game for just the second time in nine playoff games this season. The Oilers held a 2-0 lead by the 11:12 mark with both goals from Corey Perry.
The Golden Knights countered with two in a span of 56 seconds when Nicolas Roy and Smith with his first of the night pulled the visitors even before the period ended.
A poorly executed line change by the hosts in the second period gave Karlsson the time and space to give Vegas a 3-2 lead.
“We just got caught out there a long time and we just had a change which led to the goal against,” Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said. “You can get one, maybe two guys off but I think we had a little more of a wholesale change.”
Down a goal going into the third held no terrors for the Oilers after coming from behind in six straight wins, including a 5-4 victory in Game 2 in Vegas.
McDavid’s late goal pointed Game 3 toward OT again and a possible 3-0 stranglehold on the series, but Karlsson had the Oilers scrambling in their own end in the final seconds to set up Smith’s second of the game.
“Karlsson, I mean, he just threw it out there, which I knew he was going to do,” Skinner said. “I thought (Smith) was going to shoot it right away. I though, he didn’t have that much time, so I just kind of sprawled, went out there. I stayed with him for another half second and then catches us with point-four seconds left.
“Devastating, but again, things happen. Good bounces, tough bounces.”
The 2023 Stanley Cup champions played to the buzzer, however, and were rewarded.
“You leave it all out there and fractions of a second can break your heart or do the opposite,” Vegas head coach Bruce Cassidy said. ”
Edmonton won the special teams battle with a power-play goal on two chances while holding Vegas scoreless on two.
The Oilers also got a solid 20-save outing from Skinner playing his first post-season game since he was replaced by Calvin Pickard in Game 2 of the first round against the Los Angeles Kings.
Pickard sustained a lower-body injury in Thursday’s win in Las Vegas.
Skinner’s athletic dive in the second period prevented a Tomas Hertl wrap-around goal. Skinner also foiled Roy on an odd-man rush in the third.
He was victimized by porous defence in the first period, when Reilly weaved through both Viktor Arvidsson and Vasily Podkolzin to beat him between the pads.
The Oilers turned the puck over 15 times in the first two periods.
“A couple of turnovers early, they did have some chances, Stu made some big saves for us and he was there all night for us,” Perry said. “That’s not the way we play normally. We’re normally a forechecking team and we didn’t have that.
“You’ve got to look at the bright side. We’re still up 2-1.”
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