Nugent-Hopkins ends playoff goal drought in Oilers’ 4-1 win over Golden Knights
By Donna Spencer, The Canadian Press on May 11, 2023.
EDMONTON – Squaring their playoff series with the Vegas Golden Knights and recovering from a bad home game were the Edmonton Oilers’ priorities Wednesday. A 4-1 win to even the best-of-seven Pacific Division final at two wins apiece achieved, Oilers captain Connor McDavid says his team must now string wins together for the first time in this series to take it. “We’ve got to follow it up,” McDavid said. “Someone’s got to do it two nights in a row. It’s got to be us.” The second-round series is now a best-of-three with Vegas wielding home-ice advantage. Game 5 is Friday in Las Vegas and Game 6 back in Edmonton on Sunday. If required, a Game 7 would be Tuesday back in Vegas. “We think when we’re at our best, we are a very tough team to handle,” Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft said. “I’ve seen it so far in two of the four games. “The challenge is going to be to put them together back to back and win a game in a tough building.” Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored his first goal of the playoffs and also had an assist Wednesday. Nick Bjugstad, Evan Bouchard and Mattias Ekholm were Edmonton’s other goal scorers. Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner made 25 saves for the win after he was pulled in Edmonton’s 5-1 loss in Game 3 at Rogers Place. “He bounced back,” McDavid said. “That’s what he does.” After they were held off the scoresheet in Game 3, McDavid had a pair of assists and Leon Draisaitl had one. Nicolas Roy scored the Golden Knights’ lone goal in the third period. Vegas goalie Adin Hill stopped 29 shots in his first NHL playoff start and his first in over two months. With Hill pulled for an extra attacker, Knights defencemen Alex Pietrangelo brought his stick down on Draisaitl’s arms after the Oiler shot just wide of the empty net. McDavid then sought retribution in the corner from Pietrangelo, who received a major and game misconduct. “You’d like to see it reviewed for sure,” McDavid said. “I mean it’s as intent to injure as you can get. “Time, score, clock, all play a factor. He comes from over his own head and places it kind of under Leon’s chin. You’d like to see something like that suspended. It’s not a hockey play.” The Golden Knights took the first game 6-4 and the Oilers the second 5-1 in Las Vegas. Edmonton earned a split at home and thus must win on the road at least once to advance to the Western Conference final. “It was a great response tonight but we need to replicate that in Game 5,” Nugent-Hopkins said. Of Edmonton’s trio of 100-plus-point men in the regular season alongside McDavid and Draisaitl, Nugent-Hopkins was without a goal in nine playoff games. So the forward was elated to score Edmonton’s fourth goal on a feed from McDavid in the second period. “Happy to get one tonight, but more so happy to contribute to a big win for us,” Nugent-Hopkins said. Games two through four of the series have featured one team dominating the other. “That’s hard to explain,” Woodcroft said. “There wasn’t much distance between where the Golden Knights finished and where the Oilers finished. You saw how close it was down the stretch. Two good hockey teams that are now set up to play a best-of-three. “Our challenge is to play two good ones in a row here. We didn’t love our first game, we liked our second one, we didn’t like our third one, we liked our game tonight.” Edmonton’s power play didn’t produce at the cracking 56-per-cent pace it had been during the playoffs in going 1-for-6. The Oilers scored a series-high three even-strength goals, however. “We put ourselves in a bad spot early,” Golden Knights head coach Bruce Cassidy said. “Managing the puck, staying out of the box “¦ we didn’t do either of those in the first period well enough. “You start chasing the game and now they’re excited and they’re thinking ‘We’re going to bounce back’ and they get to their game.” Edmonton held the Golden Knights scoreless on four power play chances, including back-to-back penalty kills in the second period. The Oilers led 3-0 after the first period. Ekholm scored his first of the post-season with a slapshot to beat Hill far side. Bouchard earned his fourth power-play goal of the playoffs with a one-time slapshot off a McDavid feed. Bjugstad coming off the bench forced a turnover in the Vegas zone. He banked a backhand off the back of Hill’s leg into the net. Oilers forward Zach Hyman didn’t skate Tuesday or Wednesday morning, but played in Game 4. His leg collided with Knights defenceman Nicolas Hague’s during Monday’s game, and Hyman finished that game in discomfort. Mattias Janmark also returned to Edmonton’s lineup after falling backwards into the boards in Game 1. NEXT GOALIE UP: Vegas started five different goalies during the regular season because of injury. That trend continued into the playoffs. Laurent Brossoit started eight straight playoff games. He was replaced by Hill in the first period of Game 3 because of what appeared to be a left-leg injury. Hill stopped all 25 shots he faced over the remaining 48 minutes in the Knights’ 5-1 win. Cassidy said before Wednesday’s game he wouldn’t know how long Brossoit would be sidelined until the team returns to Vegas. Jonathan Quick, acquired at the NHL deadline, drew in at backup behind Hill, with Jiri Patera the third-stringer. This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 10, 2023. 43-42
