Golden Knights crumble after fast start, fall in Game 1 to Oilers

Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Shea Theodore (27) defends against Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid (97) during the second period of game one in an NHL hockey second-round playoff series at T-Mobile Arena Tuesday, May 6, 2025. Photo by: Steve Marcus

Oilers superstar captain Connor McDavid vowed his team “owed” the Golden Knights “a good series” coming into Game 1 of the team’s best-of-seven showdown Tuesday night at T-Mobile Arena.

McDavid and his teammates are off to a fast start, controlling play late en route to a 4-2 victory over the Golden Knights to take a 1-0 series lead.

Edmonton winger Zach Hyman roped a shot over Vegas goalie Adin Hill’s glove with three minutes left in the game to give the visitors their first lead. Connor Brown then scored on a breakaway less than two minutes later.   

Edmonton has flipped home-ice advantage, now only needing to win the three games at Rogers Place Arena to advance to the Western Conference Final for the second straight year. It would prefer to end the rivalry series even sooner and will look to go up 2-0 in Game 2 at 6:30 Thursday night at T-Mobile Arena.

A quick series can’t be ruled out considering how thoroughly the Oilers outplayed the Golden Knights as Game 1 progressed.

Vegas came out with a hot start and captured a 2-0 lead in just more than nine minutes off a pair of goals from its own captain, Mark Stone.

The first score was on a power play two minutes into the game when Shea Theodore ripped a puck that deflected off William Karlsson’s stick and then Stone’s stake. The second was cleaner and didn’t require as many bounces; Stone simply strode down the slot, avoided defenders and beat Oilers goalie Calvin Pickard with a wrister.

T-Mobile Arena was deafening, and the Golden Knights had seemed to leave behind memories of an ugly first-round series win over the Minnesota Wild.

Then some of the same problems from a couple weeks ago re-emerged.

Vegas became careless with the puck and unable to generate much of any offense.

Veteran Corey Perry claimed the Oilers’ first goal off a laser pass from McDavid, who occupied all the attention of Hill and the Golden Knights’ defensemen, before the end of the first period.

The second period was scoreless, but Edmonton was much closer to finding the net considering Vegas only managed one shot on goal.

The Golden Knights’ penalty kill kept them afloat by turning away the Oilers on two occasions but the latter finally broke through to start the third period.

The Oilers attacked near the net, and McDavid’s primary counterpart, Leon Draisaitl, eventually jarred in a puck past Hill to tie the game at 2-2.

The Golden Knights later received their second power play of the night, off a Brown goaltender interference call, but Pickard stood strong and turned away a point-blank shot from Tomas Hertl.

Vegas was already frustrated with its play after two periods, as defenseman Nic Hague bemoaned their lack of execution during the second intermission on the radio broadcast. The Golden Knights didn’t do enough to repair it in the third period.

They’ll need a better effort Thursday to make sure McDavid’s promise isn’t realized.

This is a developing story. Stay tuned to lasvegassun.com later for more coverage.