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Golden Knights drop 4-3 OT decision to Oilers

Posted on by Jillian Wagner

The Vegas Golden Knights lost for the third time in the last four games when they suffered a 4-3 overtime loss to the Edmonton Oilers Saturday night at Rogers Place.

Connor McDavid scored the game-winning goal 1:17 into extra time.

Mark Stone scored twice for the Golden Knights, while Keegan Kolesar picked up the other marker. Adin Hill lost his second straight start, stopping just 19 of 23 shots for an .826 save percentage.

This was the Golden Knights’ second road loss of the season; Vegas is now 14-4-1.

For the sixth time this year, Vegas surrendered the first goal, as Warren Foegele gave Edmonton a lead less than two minutes into the game.

Hill was moving laterally on the initial shot by Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, which left him out of position as Foegele collected the puck on his backhand and shoved it into the net.

The Golden Knights had several opportunities on the man-advantage but were unable to capitalize despite facing one of the worst penalty kills in the league.

However, the Golden Knights did get on the board in the opening frame when a Shea Theodore shot hit Kolesar in the head on its way into the net; though it wasn’t exactly a highlight-reel play, Kolesar was rewarded for going to the net as the Golden Knights’ fourth line chipped in once again.

It was Kolesar’s third of the year; Brett Howden recorded the secondary assist on the play for his first point since Oct. 25 in San Jose.

Just over four minutes into the second period, Stone was pulled down in front of the net and awarded a penalty shot. It was the first penalty shot of his career, and he made no mistake, cashing in to give Vegas its first lead of the game.

The Golden Knights held that lead for just over six minutes, however.

It was another questionable play by Hill, though Darnell Nurse made an excellent cross-ice pass to a wide-open Leon Draisaitl. Even so, Hill dove to make a desperation save, but Draisaitl’s patience paid off as he was able to beat Hill on a relatively harmless shot.

The Golden Knights had a solid period but found themselves tied at 2-2 despite outshooting Edmonton 13-7 in the middle frame. Vegas took a late penalty, setting up 62 seconds of carry-over power-play time for the Oilers at the start of the third.

Edmonton made the most of it.

In fact, it only took 38 seconds for Zach Hyman to score his ninth of the year.

This one certainly was not on Hill.

The Golden Knights failed to clear the zone, something that continues to be an issue for Vegas. This set up a 2-on-1 for Edmonton. Hill had no chance on the one-timer by Hyman, which made it a 3-2 game less than a minute into the third.

But to Hill’s credit, he went on to make several critical saves, including one on a McDavid breakaway as well as one on former Golden Knights winger Mattias Janmark.

That left room for the Captain to net the equalizer.

Stone scored his second of the game on an absolute snipe, evening things up at 3-3 at 11:33 of the third.

Stuart Skinner made some strong saves against the Golden Knights, who outshot Edmonton 12-5 in the third. However, neither team was able to score the go-ahead goal, forcing overtime for the fourth time this season for Vegas and first time for the Oilers.

Though Vegas was undefeated in overtime prior to tonight’s game, McDavid put a stop to that when he scored his league-leading 16th goal of the year to lift Edmonton to the 4-3 victory.

McDavid skated around Alex Pietrangelo in the neutral zone and roofed a flip shot over Hill for the game-winner just 77 seconds into extra time.

The Golden Knights played well, and while Hill had some rough moments, he made a few key stops in the third period to keep Vegas in the game and come away with a point.

McDavid came out on top in his 10th all-time meeting against Jack Eichel, who recorded an assist and five shots in 16:42.

However, the Golden Knights’ top line was the most dominant in the game, holding a 15-5 edge in shot attempts and a 10-2 edge in shots while accounting for two goals. The line managed an 80.52 percent expected goal share in just 9:43 of ice time.

It was another strong showing for Vegas’ fourth line despite being without Nicolas Roy. The newly-formed trio of Kolesar, William Carrier and Howden finished the game with a 63.16 Corsi share and 71.43 percent scoring chance share in 10:25 of 5-on-5 ice time.

Vegas went 0-for-3 on the power play and was unable to capitalize on several other prime scoring chances, including two while shorthanded to start the third period before Hyman’s goal. But the Golden Knights had a solid effort on the road against a talented team and made a strong push in the final frame.

In fact, Vegas led 21-8 in shot attempts and 10-3 in scoring chances at 5-on-5 in the third period.

This was the first time Vegas scored three goals and did not win, though the Golden Knights still came away with a point and have 29 on the year.

The Golden Knights have gone 1-2-1 in their last four games but will look to right the ship Monday against Vancouver, the only Pacific Division club they have yet to face this season.

Talking Points