Marchessault Goes Natural, Delivering Second Period Hat Trick To Help VGK Clinch Second Round Series Against Edmonton In Six Games Sunday
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By Alan Snel, LVSportsBiz.com Publisher-Writer
The path in the West to reach the Stanley Cup Final will go through Las Vegas.
The Golden Knights shut out the high-powered Edmonton Oilers for the last 57:13 and used a natural hat trick by original Misfit Jonathan Marchessault in the second period to defeat Edmonton, 5-2, in Game 6 and knock out the Oilers in Round 2.
Vegas will host the first two games of the Western Conference Final against either Dallas or second-year Seattle. The Stars host the Kraken in a winner-take-all Game 7 Monday. In its six years in the NHL, this is the fourth time Vegas has reached the NHL’s final four teams in the playoffs.
The Knights started quickly with a goal by Reilly Smith only 24 seconds into the game.
But Edmonton countered with a goal a mere 31 seconds later by superstar and likely league MVP Connor McDavid and the game was tied 1-1 after 55 seconds.
And less than two minutes after McDavid tied the game Edmonton’s Warren Foegele gave the Oilers a 2-1 lead.
And then VGK goalie Adin Hill, a strapping six-foot, four-inch netminder who turned 27 three days ago, shut down Edmonton’s vaunted offensive attack.
Hill stopped 39 of 41 shots.
Meanwhile, Marchessault delivered three goals in a row in the middle period with tallies at 4:26, 7:44, and 18:36 of the second stanza.
“This year has been really special. We’re just halfway through our goal here,” Marchessault said after the game on national TV. “The beauty of our team is our depth.”
Another original Misfit, William Karlsson, added an empty net goal with 39 seconds left in the game to seal the 5-2 series-clinching win.
Hill turned out to be the unlikely netminder hero, filling the role after injuries to Robin Lehner, Logan Thompson and Laurent Brossoit sidelined those goalies. Hill was 16-7-1 during the regular season, playing well toward the end of the season before he got injured, too.
Hill replaced Brossoit in Game 4 and picked up where he left off in the regular season, delivering wins in Game 5 and Game 6 and help the VGK advance to the conference finals.
