Oilers dynamic duo delivers in Game 2 win over Knights

LAS VEGAS — For over 75 minutes, the Vegas Golden Knights did what few teams have managed to do in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, which is keep Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl off the scoresheet.

But in a matter of seconds, Edmonton’s Dynamic Duo found a way to team up and get the puck past Adin Hill and give the Oilers a 5-4 overtime win in Game 2 Thursday and a 2-0 series lead heading back to Edmonton Saturday for Game 3.

That’s how lethal 97 and 29 are. They can strike anywhere at any time.

“They’re great players,” Knights coach Bruce Cassidy said. “We did a very good job on them. It’s 4-4 going into overtime and they’re not on the scoresheet. But we needed this to go our way and it didn’t. They made a good play and they don’t need much.”

Game 2 was full of weird twists and turns. Vegas took a 1-0 lead, only to see the Oilers come back yet again and take leads of 3-1 and 4-2. But the Knights, fueled by a pair of goals from Victor Olofsson showed they too can play the comeback role.

And when Alex Pietrangelo tied it in the third period in his series debut (he was out ill for Game 1), the 18,415 inside T-Mobile Arena were confident the Knights would find a way to even the series.

And after several close-in attempts early in OT that Oilers goaltender Calvin Pickard managed to stop, the game swung when Nic Roy took a senseless high-sticking penalty in the offensive zone when he nailed Trent Frederic in the face.

Roy was assessed a five-minute major and a game misconduct. It seemed like it was curtains for Vegas at that juncture. Surely McDavid and Draisaitl would beat them somewhere during the power play.

Instead, the Knights killed it off though Pietrangelo almost wound up the goat as he attempted to clear the zone only to have Draisaitl get his stick on the puck and it went right to Zach Hyman. But Hyman was unable to finish in front and the Knights escaped disaster.

But seconds later, Viktor Arvidsson tripped Brayden McNabb behind the Vegas goal and McNabb went hard, shoulder-first into the boards.

No call was made and McNabb left the ice and went straight to the VGK locker room. Moments later, the Oilers were celebrating thanks to McDavid and Draisaitl, who collected his fifth goal of the playoffs.
 
“It sucks to lose a player like that,” Cassidy said of the play that resulted in a no-call.. “He’s a big part of our team, so we’ll see where that goes. We don’t know what his status will be (for Game 3).

“Gord (referee Gord Dwyer) is looking right at it and he missed the call. It’s a can-opener trip. It’s all those things. But we didn’t get the call and you’ve got to keep playing.”

Both Olofsson and Mark Stone thought McNabb was tripped and a penalty should’ve been called.

“It was clearly a trip,” Stone said.

Still, the Knights went from having the lead to being forced to chase the game. Unlike in Game 1, their overall play was much improved Thursday and it enabled them to rally from a two-goal deficit in the third period to force overtime.

“I thought we played a good game,” Stone said. “We had a lot of good chances. We had a great kill. We just couldn’t get that next one.”

Now the Knights face the unenviable task of having to win four of the next five games to keep their season going. If McNabb’s unavailable for Game 3, Kaedan Korczak would likely come in. But Vegas would lose its best defensive defenseman, top shot blocker and leader in hits. Perhaps forward Pavel Dorofeyev, who has yet to play in this series, is ready to see his first action after being injured in the first-round series with Minnesota.

“I felt we outplayed the Oilers and we deserved a better fate,” Cassidy said. “We want to get better as the series goes along and we have to improve on (Thursday) if we want to get back in it. It’s that simple.”

Stone said: “We have to find a way to win on Saturday.”

But even if the Knights find a way to contain McDavid and Draisaitl, they have to deal with the rest of the lineup that continues to produce for Edmonton and a goalie in Pickard who, despite appearing to injure his left leg after Tomas Hertl crashed into him in the third period, seems to be living a charmed life as the team rallies around him.

“We’ll lick our wounds and get back at it in Edmonton,” Cassidy said.