Draisaitl’s 4 goals not enough as Oilers fall short against Golden Knights in Game 1
Leon Draisaitl’s four-goal game wasn’t enough for the Edmonton Oilers to beat the Vegas Golden Knights 6-4 to open their second-round playoff series on Wednesday.
Ivan Barbashev scored twice and Mark Stone had a goal and an assist for host Vegas.
Chandler Stevenson and Michael Amadio also scored for the Knights, while Jack Eichel added an empty netter. Knights defenseman Zach Whitecloud had two assists.
WATCH |: The Golden Knights scored twice in 50 seconds early in the 3rd period.
Vegas scored two goals 50 seconds apart early in the third period and beat Edmonton 6-4 to claim the opening game of the second period.
Vegas starter Laurent Brosseau stopped 23 shots in the win and Edmonton counterpart Stuart Skinner turned away 28 shots in the loss.
Skinner was among three Calder Trophy candidates for the NHL’s rookie award announced earlier Wednesday.
Draisaitl’s 11 goals lead the NHL in the postseason. Connor McDavid, Matias Ekholm and Zach Hyman each had two assists for Edmonton.
LE🚨🚨🚨🚨N: pic.twitter.com/wG3hZKZ2DX
Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is Saturday in Las Vegas before the series returns to Edmonton for games three and four.
The Oilers beat the Los Angeles Kings in six games in the first round. The Knights had a slightly longer break after dispatching the Winnipeg Jets in five games to advance.
The hosts took a 3-2 lead and took a 26-15 advantage in shots after 40 minutes. After a five-goal firework in the first period, neither side scored in the second.
Draisaitl completed a hat trick at 1:35, and Vegas defenseman Alex Pietrangelo served a roughing minor that carried over late in the second period.
Neon Leon 🎩🎩🎩 pic.twitter.com/avttPcc6zo
But the Knights countered with a pair of goals in less than a minute to take a 5-3 lead. Barbashev had his second tipped by Whitecloud on Skinner at 2:36.
The Edmonton goalie missed all of Stevenson’s shot off the crossbar and the puck went into the net at 3:26.
Draisaitl scored his fourth off the rush at 8:33. As Skinner went to the bench for an extra forward, the Oilers were called for too many men with 63 seconds left in the game.
The Knights countered with three straight goals before Draisaitl pulled his team within scoring distance with 11 seconds left.
Draisaitl hit a shot from the side of the net over Brosois’ shoulder. The Vegas goalie turned his back too late and the puck rolled off his back and into the net.
Dre does it in his second period 📐 pic.twitter.com/mJqB4i8GqW
Stone deflected a Reilly Smith shot past Skinner with a blade heel for the go-ahead goal at 18:23.
Amadio grabbed a shot from the top of the faceoff circle at 9:54 on William Karlsson’s cross-ice shot.
Barbashev found a loose puck in front of the crease to pull Vegas within just 40 seconds of Edmonton’s first goal.
Draisaitl kneeling down for a one-up ice feed from McDavid is a highlight reel with the man advantage. They did it for an early Oiler lead.
Edmonton’s power play converted two of three chances. Vegas was two-for-four, including Eichel’s empty netter
Draisaitl has at least one point in all seven of his postseason games (11 goals, 4 assists).
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