Global Courant 2023-05-11 10:20:05
Settling their playoff series with the Vegas Golden Knights and recovering from a poor home game were the Edmonton Oilers’ priorities on Wednesday.
A 4-1 win to take even the best-of-seven Pacific Division final to two wins apiece, Oilers captain Connor McDavid says his team now needs to string together for the first time in this win streak to take it .
“We need to follow up,” McDavid said. “Someone has to do it two nights in a row. It has to be us.”
The second round series is now a best-of-three with Vegas having home field advantage.
Game 5 is Friday in Las Vegas and Game 6 back in Edmonton on Sunday.
If necessary, a Game 7 would be back in Vegas on Tuesday.
“We think when we’re at our best, we’re a really hard team to deal with,” said Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft. “I’ve seen it in two of the four games so far.
“The challenge will be getting them back to back and winning a game in a tough building.”
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored his first goal of the playoffs and also had an assist on Wednesday. Nick Bjugstad, Evan Bouchard and Mattias Ekholm were Edmonton’s other goal scorers.
LOOK | Nugent-Hopkins, McDavid lead Oilers past Golden Knights in Game 4:
Oilers even series with Golden Knights as Nugent-Hopkins, McDavid in the lead
Edmonton ties their second round playoff series to Vegas at two games apiece with a 4-1 victory. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scores his first goal of the postseason to finish with two points, while Connor McDavid provides two assists.
Oilers goaltender Stuart Skinner made 25 saves for the win after being pulled in Edmonton’s Game 3 5–1 loss at Rogers Place.
“He bounced back,” McDavid said. “That’s what he does.”
After being 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 goaltender Adin Hill stopped 29 shots in his first NHL playoff start and his first in over two months.
Pietrangelo ejected for beating Draisaitl
With Hill drawn for an extra striker, Alex Pietrangelo, the Knights defender, brought his baton to Draisaitl’s arms after the Oiler fired just wide of the empty net.
McDavid then sought retaliation in Pietrangelo’s corner, who got a big and misspelling.
“You’d definitely want to see it reviewed,” McDavid said. “I mean, it’s as intent to injure as you can get.
“Time, score, clock, they all come into play. He comes from over his own head and puts it a little bit under Leon’s chin. You’d like to see something like that suspended. It’s not a hockey game.”
The Golden Knights won the first game 6-4 and the Oilers won the second 5-1 in Las Vegas.
Edmonton earned a split at home and so must win at least once along the way to advance to the Western Conference Finals.
“It was a great reaction tonight, but we need to replicate that in Game 5,” said Nugent-Hopkins.
Of Edmonton’s trio of men with more than 100 regular season points alongside McDavid and Draisaitl, Nugent-Hopkins sat goalless in nine playoff games.
So the forward was delighted when he scored 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,” said Nugent-Hopkins.
In games two through four of the series, one team dominated 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 to the trajectory. Two good hockey teams now ready to play a best-of-three.
“Our challenge is to play two good games in a row here. We didn’t like our first game, we liked our second, we didn’t like our third, we enjoyed our game tonight.”
Bouch shoot it pic.twitter.com/kcUeR341uJ
Edmonton’s power play failed to deliver the stellar 56 percent pace it had been during the playoffs by going 1-for-6. However, the Oilers scored three goals of equal strength.
“We put ourselves in a bad position early on,” said Golden Knights head coach Bruce Cassidy. “Managing the puck, staying out of the box… neither of us did well enough in the first period.
“You start chasing the game and now they’re excited and they’re like, ‘We’re going to bounce back’ and they start their game.”
Edmonton held the Golden Knights scoreless on four power play opportunities, 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 postseason with a slapshot to beat Hill across the line.
That’s our vi-KING pic.twitter.com/uIp8kGx616
Bouchard earned his fourth power play goal of the playoffs with a one-shot slapshot from a McDavid feed.
Bjugstad coming off the bench forced a turnover in the Vegas zone. He shot a backhand off the back of Hill’s leg into the net.
Oilers forward Zach Hyman did not skate Tuesday or Wednesday morning, but played in Game 4.)
His leg collided with that of Knights defender Nicolas Hague during Monday’s game, and Hyman ended that game awkwardly.
Mattias Janmark also returned to Edmonton’s lineup after falling backward into the boards in Game 1.
