GDB +9.0 Wrap Up: Oilers lay an egg and Golden Knights take series lead with 5-1 win
11 months ago
The Golden Knights are back out in front.
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The Oilers had all of the momentum on their side heading back to Edmonton after a commanding win in Game 2 in Vegas on Saturday but they simply didn’t show up.
Warren Foegele scored a couple of minutes into the game to give Edmonton a 1-0 lead but Jonathan Marchessault put the Golden Knights on top with a pair of goals later in the first period. The second period was all Vegas as they scored three more goals to take a 5-1 lead.
That wound up being the final score after an uneventful third period. The Oilers put forward their most uninspired effort of the playoffs and suffered their first lopsided loss in nearly two months.
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Oilersnation’s player of the game: The Third Line
Derek Ryan, Ryan McLeod, and Warren Foegele appeared to be the only players that gave it their all in Monday’s game. In fact, it was the only forward line that remained the same throughout the game.
Every shift, they battled and tried to create chances. In fact, the three forwards were the only players that had points on Monday night.
It was Foegele’s first goal in 18 games, and his first in the playoffs. It’s nice to see him get off the schneid, and if the fourth line can continue to fire on all cylinders while the rest of the team picks it up, good things will happen.
Things worth mentioning…
Stuart Skinner had a rough game if you’re just looking at save percentage, but he really had no chance on any of the four goals he allowed. Every goal allowed had an open Knights shooter with an Oiler skater late on their assignments. The 24-year-old tendy made a few big saves, but he can only do so much.
The refs missed a pretty obvious call. This wouldn’t be that big of an issue, as they kept the whistles away. However, the missed high stick call led to an immediate goal to make it 2-1. Still, hard to blame the refs when the Oilers played like complete trash.
Zach Hyman appeared to have a lower-body injury after a big hit in the first period. He had a hard time getting up and struggled skating all night. Hopefully, he’s just a minor injury like a bruise or charlie horse or something.
Leon Draisaitl is still the second-best player in the league, but man, he has a tendency to not give it his all when the Oilers are being blown out. On their brief power play, he lost the puck several times and didn’t bother to chase it. Then he took a dumb slashing penalty after the Oilers’ power play ended. As I was writing this section, he took a second dumb penalty.
Kailer Yamamoto was probably the best Oiler not on the Derek Ryan line. Despite his small stature, the 24-year-old always gets involved in the forecheck causing turnovers and just being a general nuisance. He got into it with the much larger Mark Stone as well, as they received coincidental minors.
Laurent Brossoit went down with an apparent lower-body injury early in the first period. First off, let’s hope it’s nothing serious as the former Oiler/Oiler King went through a long rehab to fix a hip. Secondly, it seemed like the turning point of the period, as the Knights were all over the Oilers for the rest of the game.
The Oilers will look to tie the series at two apiece on Wednesday at 8:00 PM MT. If you want a sneak peek as to who will win, check out the Dallas game at 7:30 PM MT on Tuesday. If Dallas wins, there’s a good chance Edmonton will as well.
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