Reilly Smith scored his second goal of the game with just 0.4 seconds left in regulation time as the Vegas Golden Knights came from behind to defeat the Edmonton Oilers 4-3 on Saturday to cut their deficit in half in the second-round playoff series.
“Corey (Perry) put in a really good game tonight and I think some other guys did too, but we know Vegas is a good team — they’re not going away — and we’re going to need everyone chipping in and playing as best they can,” Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said after the loss.
Smith took a hopeful shot on goal that would have gone wide but deflected off the stick of Oiler Leon Draisaitl and into the net.
“Obviously we didn’t sort it out very well to let the puck get into the slot, but I think after that it’s just unlucky, it’s unfortunate; obviously it goes off my stick, I’m just trying to keep it out of the net, obviously, and it’s just a bad bounce,” Draisaitl said.
Nicolas Roy and William Karlsson also scored for the Golden Knights, who lost the first two games of the series at home. Adin Hill made 17 stops to earn the win in the Vegas net.
“They’re a good team, they play well; they capitalized on a few rushes and we have to limit those mistakes,” Perry said.
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Corey Perry had a pair of goals and Connor McDavid also scored for the Oilers, who returned to Stuart Skinner in net after Calvin Pickard was unable to play due to an injury likely suffered in the third period of Game 2 when Knight Tomas Hertl landed on him in the crease.
Skinner made 20 saves to drop to 0-3 in post-season play.
“It was nice to go back in there,” Skinner said. “Not the result that we wanted, obviously, and we’ll get better and move forward.”
“Things happen — good bounces, tough bounces, it happens for everybody, so just more forward.”
Edmonton started the scoring 7:19 into the first period as McDavid dropped a pass back to a trailing Perry and the 39-year-old forward beat Hill glove-side for his fourth goal of the post-season. McDavid extended his playoff points streak to seven games with his 13th helper.
Perry made his presence known again four minutes later, tipping home his second goal of the game on an Evan Bouchard point shot as the Oilers scored their first power-play goal of the series.
The Golden Knights got one back with just under five minutes to play in the opening frame as a bad bounce on a rebound came to Roy in front and he was able to chip it over Skinner and in for his second of the playoffs.
Vegas tied the contest 54 seconds later as Smith snuck through a pair of defenders and sent a backhand shot past Skinner, also his second.
Golden Knights star forward Mark Stone left the game late in the first with an undisclosed injury and did not return.
Vegas took a 3-2 lead with just under three minutes to play in the second period as Edmonton got caught on a change and Karlsson took a return pass from Noah Hanifin and scored his third.
The Oilers evened it up with just 3:02 to play in the third period as McDavid spun out of the corner and then managed to bank it in off the heel of defender Brayden McNabb and into the net for his third, making it appear the game was heading to overtime.
NOTES
Perry moved into a tie with Stan Mikita and Oilers assistant coach Paul Coffey for 36th in all-time playoff goal scoring with 59. … Skinner allowed 11 goals on 58 shots with a 6.11 goals-against average and .810 save percentage in his two starts coming into the night. … Vegas’s leading regular-season goal scorer Pavel Dorofeyev returned to the lineup after missing the last three games. He played almost 16 minutes. … Vegas has never been swept in a series in its eight-year history.
UP NEXT
Game 4 takes place on Monday in Edmonton.
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