Golden Knights shut out for a second straight game, eliminated from playoffs

Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Shea Theodore (27) defends against Edmonton Oilers left wing Zach Hyman (18) during the second period of game five in an NHL hockey second-round playoff series at T-Mobile Arena Wednesday, May 14, 2025. Photo by: Steve Marcus

One of the longest scoreless droughts in franchise history doomed the Golden Knights’ 2024-2025 season.

The Edmonton Oilers eliminated the Golden Knights with a 1-0 victory in the teams’ second-round Stanley Cup Playoff series Wednesday night at T-Mobile Arena.

The Oilers beat the Golden Knights in overtime when Kasperi Kapanen, playing in only his second postseason game of the year, pushed in a puck past Adin Hill and through a pile-up in the crease. Edmonton won the best-of-seven series in five games.

The Golden Knights went more than six periods, 127 minutes, without scoring goal to end their season with consecutive shutouts. The only time they’ve gone longer without getting on the scoreboard in the postseason came in 2020 when they lost in the Western Conference Final to the Dallas Stars.

The Oilers hadn’t played a scoreless game through two periods all year, let alone three.

The regulation action looked nothing like the first three contests of the series where the rivals combined for an average of more than seven goals per game.  

Edmonton at least got a few chances early, but Vegas goalie Adin Hill showed he was settled in for one of his best games of the postseason. Hill finished with 28 saves.

The Golden Knights’ offense relatively came to life over the final 25 minutes of regulation. Their lines were rearranged as a result of captain Mark Stone missing the game with an upper-body injury.

He suffered the setback in Game 3 and missed the final two periods but returned to play in Game 4 at what looked well less than 100%.  

Without him and second-line winger Brandon Saad, who missed his second straight game with a lower-body injury, it took a while for the Golden Knights’ new combinations to lock in their rhythm.

Eventually, the third line of Pavel Dorofeyev-Tomas Hertl-Nic Roy got on track but Edmonton goalie Stuart Skinner stood up to them in a late second-period onslaught. Skinner finished with 25 saves in his second start of the series after being called back in following an injury to Calvin Pickard.

The Oilers have gone to extreme lengths to protect Skinner from having to face too many high-danger opportunities. Jack Eichel manufactured a couple during a third-period power play, but the Golden Knights bungled the chances themselves as Hertl and Brett Howden couldn’t finish.

Howden’s miss on a wide-open net was particularly damaging as it led to Edmonton superstar Leon Draisaitl gathering the puck and rushing down the other end of the ice all alone on a breakaway.

Draisaitl got a wrister on net, but Hill blocked in. Hill went on to stop another pair of Draisaitl shots in the third period, and then threw in an extra highlight by corralling a Connor McDavid attempt on an odd-man rush in the 19^th minute.

But it surprisingly wasn’t the likes of McDavid and Draisaitl that beat the Golden Knights all series. Edmonton’s role players emerged to continually make a difference and, to conclude an all-time epic defensive struggle, Kapanen was the hero.

This is a developing story. Check back later for more coverage.