Skinner, Oilers shutout Golden Knights to take 3-1 series lead

EDMONTON, Alberta -- Edmonton’s head coach Kris Knoblauch went with a different lineup that had Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl on different shifts for game four to help balance their depth. McDavid shared the ice with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Zach Hyman on the first, followed by Vasily Podkolzin, Kasperi Kapanen and Draisaitl. 

From opening puck drop, it was clear that Knoblauch’s move worked as intended by shutting out the Golden Knights 3-0 on Monday at Rogers Place and now hold a commanding 3-1 series lead.

"It was an uphill battle and we weren't able to create enough offense," Golden Knights' head coach Bruce Cassidy said. 

The Oilers recreated their game three start by scoring a pair of goals in the first period by Adam Henrique, who registered his first multi-goal game in the postseason in 13 years. 

"They were getting to pucks faster than we were," Reilly Smith said. "I don't think dictated the pace of the game. That's something we'll have to fix next game." 

The opening goals might have been replicated but one thing that was surely different was the levels energy, execution and urgency. Similar to games two and three during the Wild series, Vegas had a tough time getting anything going through the middle in the neutral zone and gave up their fair share of turnovers within their end. 

"Desperation," Jack Eichel said on what he thought Edmonton improved on defensively. "They blocked a lot of shot. I don't think we got to the inside enough." 

The two goals Vegas allowed in the first period were because of poor puck handling by Golden Knights' skaters behind Adin Hill. Part of the reason why Minnesota’s lethal pair of Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy dominated the six game series against Vegas with 17 points. 

With three first period power plays, the Golden Knights only shot the puck twice on net and didn’t look like the cohesive unit that is ranked the second best in the NHL. 

"Power play let us down in the first period. Could have gotten us back into the game," Cassidy said. 

As a whole, the Oilers outshot the Golden Knights 32-23 and at one point, they were ahead by 25-12 . 

A disturbing stat was Jack Eichel and Mark Stone, who dressed after leaving game three in the first period, totaling three shots on the night. When competing against the Oiler's best that combined for seven shots, they have to dramatically increase their number if they want to see a game six back in Edmonton.   

Not even their fourth line was able to record a shot.

"You get behind and we obviously weren't able to solve the goaltender," Eichel said. "We just got to be cleaner on our breakouts and just better execution. It's do or die now." 

Something that kept repeating throughout the 60 minutes was the lack of sustaining puck in the EDM zone, as well as the neutral zone. Once they entered the Edmonton end, they would be good for one shot and a clear, or cycle the puck around and lose control at the blue line. 

Compared to games two and three, it is something that Bruce Cassidy has to address over the next few days before game five at T-Mobile Arena. 

Another thing that needs improvement is their spacing with the puck. 

Anytime Edmonton would generate 2v2 rushes into the Vegas' end, they would have a generous amount of separation between each other, allowing easier shots on net while also lining up rebounds and prolonging their pressure. 

The Golden Knights got away from that tonight, which resulted to brief, one-and-done offense. 

The frustration from both sides also magnified, including a total of 22 penalty minutes (13 EDM; 9 VGK) that even featured the first tilt of the NHL playoffs with Nicolas Hague and Trent Frederic. 

Another big shuffle that took place immediately after Henrique’s second goal involved one of the Golden Knights’ most household-name villains, Evander Kane, who also scored the closing goal.   

While Henrique scores from the pass by Hyman down below the goal line, Kane is hovering over the crease and falls over the top of Hill. The Vegas netminder, along with Brayden McNabb and Brett Howden, flushed him like an angry mob.

Oilers’ netminder Stuart Skinner rebounded from his game three performance by stopping all 23 shots, earning his second career playoff shutout. 

While giving up more three goals to his 32 goals allowed, Hill played better than what the boxscore says. 

Hill was more aggressive than he has been in all playoffs. Whether it was defending his crease, tapping Edmonton skaters with his stick or jumping in on a scrum after the whistle, Hill was doing his best to get under their skin and came up with 29 saves with a .906 SV%.    

"He pushed back," Cassidy said his netminder. "He showed some emotion to protect his area, and that's part of playoff hockey." 

Being a game away from elimination, Vegas will have to quickly create new ways to possess the puck longer while also giving themselves enough space with it on their stick.

"It's gotta be better," Eichel said. "We're going home for game five to win a game and go from there. That's really all that matters at this point."

Having to win the next three, Vegas is in danger of dropping their first ever second round loss on Wednesday as game five will take place in Vegas at 6:30. 

"We did it last series," Smith said. "We have a lot of confidence in the group and we just have to take it one at a time."