Vegas Golden Knights center Ivan Barbashev (49) celebrates after Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Nicolas Hague (14) scored against Edmonton Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner (74) during the second period of Game 5 of an NHL hockey Stanley Cup second-round playoff series Friday, May 12, 2023, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
LAS VEGAS – A three-goal burst in the second period spurred the Vegas Golden Knights to Friday’s 4-3 win and pushed the Edmonton Oilers to the brink of elimination from the NHL playoffs.
Vegas took a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven Pacific Division final. The Oilers need a Game 6 win at home Sunday to send the series back to Vegas for a Tuesday finale.
Trailing 2-1, the Golden Knights scored the fastest three playoff goals in their six-year history in a span of 89 seconds.
Connor McDavid pulled Edmonton within a goal early in the third with his second power-play goal of the game, but the Oilers couldn’t produce the equalizer at T-Mobile Arena.
“We’ve talked about grabbing those momentum swings and we lost the game in 90 seconds,” McDavid said. “Game 5 is a big one in the series when it’s 2-2. Now you’ve got to win a game at home and go from there.”
Jack Eichel led the Golden Knights with a goal and two assists. Reilly Smith, Mark Stone and Nicolas Hague also scored for Vegas.
Jonathan Marchessault had three assists for the Knights and goaltender Adin Hill made 31 saves for the win.
Zach Hyman scored a goal and had an assist for Edmonton. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and defenceman Evan Bouchard each had two assists
Stuart Skinner was replaced by Jack Campbell for the second time in three games.
Skinner came out in the second period when Vegas scored its fourth goal on 23 shots. Campbell stopped all nine shots he saw in relief.
“What Stuart did was give us a chance to win the game,” Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft said. “There was a segment that we didn’t like in the second period. In order to slow the momentum, I decided to change the goalie at that moment.”
Edmonton’s power play continued to run hot with three goals on four chances, but the Oilers also gave Vegas seven chances with a man advantage.
“Six minutes of those penalties were high sticks,” Woodcroft observed. “Those are undisciplined stick fouls, that we can do better.”
The Knights scored twice, including one five-on-three, in a 29-second span during their second-period barrage. Hague scored an even-strength goal a minute after Reilly’s power-play goal.
“That segment in the second period hobbled us and we weren’t able to get it done,” Woodcroft said.
Edmonton’s Philip Broberg and Mattias Janmark took staggered holding and high-sticking penalties on Eichel respectively to give Vegas over a minute of two-man advantage.
“When you get a five-on-three, I think it’s a must,” Marchessault said. “Those were huge goals in our game tonight. It gives us a lot of confidence to get those goals.
“We win 4-3 and we have two out of four on the power play. That’s a positive for us for sure.”
Stone scored by wrapping the puck around Skinner’s far pad. Reilly then took advantage of an errant puck deflecting off McDavid to sweep the puck by the Oilers’ goalie.
Edmonton carried a five-minute power play from the end of the second period into the third because Knights’ forward Keegan Kolesar was assessed a five-minute major and misconduct for boarding Mattias Ekholm.
McDavid scored his second goal of the game and seventh of the playoffs skating through three gold jerseys and tapping in his own rebound at 3:40.
The NHL’s leading scorer in the regular season was nominated Friday for the Hart Trophy, which he won in both 2021 and 2017.
Both power-play goals for Edmonton in the first period were scored on rebounds off Nugent-Hopkins’ shots. The Oilers didn’t generate any even-strength goals in the game.
“I thought it was our best all-around defensive game,” Golden Knights head coach Bruce Cassidy said. “Even though they scored three on their power play, I know this is going to sound really strange, I thought we did a good job for the most part.”
Eichel, Stone and Smith all scored their goals from close range.
“We needed to get greasy tonight,” Cassidy said. “We needed to get to the top of the crease.”
The Oilers are the last Canadian NHL club in contention for a Stanley Cup this year because the Toronto Maple Leafs were eliminated in Friday’s 3-2 overtime loss to the Florida Panthers.
It’s been 30 years since a Canadian club lifted the trophy. The Montreal Canadiens won it in 1993.
Vegas boasted one of the NHL’s best road records at 26-7-8 this season. The Golden Knights finished two points ahead of the Oilers atop of the Western Conference.
“We worked hard all year to get home advantage,” Marchessault said. “We had to take advantage of it tonight and we did.”
The Oilers trailed the Los Angeles Kings 3-2 in last year’s first round and won back-to-back to close out the series, which is experience they intend to draw on to come back against the Knights.
“Confident,” Woodcroft said. “We’ve loved the way we’ve played in our building all year. We have a challenge before us. We’re going to go home and we’re going to play our best game at home and get back on a flight and come to Vegas to challenge in Game 7.”
NOTES: With 15 power-play points, Edmonton’s Bouchard (four goals, 11 assists) was tied for third all-time for most power-play points by a defenceman in a single post-season with Denis Potvin (15 in 1981), behind Al MacInnis (23 in 1989), Ray Bourque (17 in 1991) “¦ Eichel tied a Golden Knights franchise record for the most goals in the first 10 games of the playoffs with his sixth Friday.
SUSPENSIONS: The Oilers were minus defenceman Darnell Nurse because of his one-game suspension for instigating a fight in the final minute of Wednesday’s Game 3.
The Knights were without defenceman Alex Pietrangelo also serving a one-game suspension for slashing Leon Draisaitl late in Wednesday’s game.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May12, 2023.
Note to readers: A previous version of this story had Vegas scoring three goals in one minute and nine seconds. Vegas scored the goals in one minute and 29 seconds.
