Golden Knights can't finish comeback in Game 2 overtime loss to Oilers

The Golden Knights’ defense held two of the best offensive hockey players in the world, the Oilers’ Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, at bay for more than 75 minutes Tuesday night at T-Mobile Arena.

They couldn’t limit them any longer as the pair broke away late in an overtime period, with McDavid dishing to Draisaitl for a game-winning goal.

Edmonton prevented completing a collapse and beat Vegas 5-4, taking a 2-0 series lead in the teams’ second-round Stanley Cup Playoffs series.

The matchup now heads North with Game 3 scheduled for 6 p.m. Saturday night at Edmonton’s Rogers Place.

Vegas played much better it did in a Game 1 loss on Tuesday and improved in many crucial areas, including slowing McDavid and Draisaitl. But the Golden Knights regressed in other ways and couldn’t find a different result.

The Oilers notched their sixth straight comeback victory of the postseason — dating back to the final four games of their first-round series against the Los Angeles Kings.

This one required less work than most of the others including Game 1 against Vegas when Edmonton fell behind 2-0 immediately on a pair of goals from captain Mark Stone.

The Oilers only trailed 1-0 in Game 2 with Stone again starting the scoring on a power play but this time via assist. Stone fired a pass that Victor Olofsson flushed into the back of the net for his first career playoff goal at 8:42 of the first period.

Unlike Game 1 where the Golden Knights’ offense evaporated after the early success, they found more chances in Game 2. Oilers goalie Calvin Pickard was just up to the challenge for much of the night, finishing with 28 saves.

The journeyman veteran outplayed his more decorated Vegas counterpart, Adin Hill, who arguably should have stopped a trio of goals he allowed in the second period when Edmonton seized control of the game by building a 3-1 lead.    

The Golden Knights stood up to pressure from McDavid and Draisaitl during the start of a 4-on-4 stretch of play but then allowed a loose puck to find the stick of veteran defenseman Darnell Nurse, who laced it past Hill.  

That was representative of the night for Vegas, which made a few too many mistakes.

Nurse’s goal was the final of the second-period bunch but Hill also allowed a long-range snipe from defenseman Jake Walman and a wrister past his blocker by forward Vasily Podkolzin.

All three goals came in a span of six minutes, and the first two were courtesy of Edmonton’s fourth forward line. Vegas’ depth was supposed to be their biggest edge in this rivalry series.

But that hasn’t manifested yet, and the Golden Knights’ defensive advantage has also looked negligible at best. Two-way forwards Jack Eichel and William Karlsson — whom combined for Vegas’ second goal when the latter deflected in a shot from the former late in the second period — affected McDavid and Draisaitl for almost the entire the game but let down at the end.

McDavid drove right past Eichel on the winning sequence.

Hill lunged towards Draisaitl for a glove save but it was moments too late.

Despite his earlier struggles, Vegas can’t pin the whole loss on Hill. He redeemed himself in overtime by stopping a barrage of Edmonton shots on a five-minute power play.

Vegas center Nicolas Roy received a major, game-misconduct penalty for a cross-check to the face of Edmonton winger Trent Frederic in the sixth minute of overtime.

All of the Oilers’ top performers took their turns peppering Hill with chances, but none of them got through. Well, the last one kind of did.

Zach Hyman lofted a puck over Hill’s shoulder as the power play subsided but it hit off the crossbar.

Edmonton’s secondary personnel drove its success for mostof the night.    

Longtime Vegas nemesis Evander Kane scored a net-front goal off a nifty pass from linemate Zach Hyman to put Edmonton up 4-2 in the opening two minutes of the third period. Kane was also in the middle of a pair of scrums in the second period, the first when he crashed into Hill to take a goaltender interference penalty.

The Golden Knights staged their own comeback after Kane’s goal.  Edmonton’s attack lost some potency, and Vegas took advantage.

McDavid went to the penalty box for high-sticking five minutes into the final frame, and Eichel wasted no time making a play with a hesitation, cross-ice pass that Olofsson again one-timed for a score.

Vegas stayed active from there, and defenseman Alex Pietrangelo made use of a Tomas Hertl screen to wrist in a goal from the blue line.

Pietrangelo also earned an assist on Karlsson’s goal and helped prevent a dangerous Draisaitl chance, making a major impact after missing Game 1 with an illness.

Veterans like Pietrangelo and Stone seemed to spur an inspired effort, but it wasn’t enough. The Oilers stayed a step ahead of the Golden Knights.

Check back later for more coverage of the Oilers’ Game 2 win over the Golden Knights.