Golden Knights Hold On For 1-0 Win Against Edmonton Behind Goalie Hill; VGK Announce Attendance At 17,887 Tuesday
Story by Alan Snel Photos by J. Tyge O’Donnell
LAS VEGAS, Nevada — After an embarrassing 6-0 loss to Utah on home ice only three nights ago, the Golden Knights had the chance to bounce back with a showdown with division rival Edmonton Tuesday.
These are two Stanley Cup contenders: Vegas won the NHL title in 2023, while the Oilers lost a painful Game 7 to Florida in the 2024 Final.
The VGK knocked out Edmonton in the 2023 Conference semifinal and there’s a nice head-to-head battle in centers between stars Jack Eichel and Connor McDavid.
The first 20 minutes were quiet.
The Oil mustered a mere three shots, while Vegas put four pucks on net.
But the VGK had a 1-0 lead after the first period thanks to Ivan Barbashev’s 13th goal of the season halfway through the opening stanza.
It turned out to be the sole tally of the game.
The Knights cleaned up their defense bigtime and rode the solid, battle-tested goaltending of netminder Adin Hill to shut down the Oilers and their superstars in a 1-0 win before an announced crowd of 17,887 tonight. It was also a very rare game:
In period two, the pace picked up.
With about eight minutes left in the middle stanza there was some intense end-to-end action.
But no goals were scored and VGK took the 1-0 lead into the second intermission.
The third period opened with CGK goalie Adin Hill trying to lock down Edmonton in front of an announced crowd of 17,887, which included a healthy amount of Edmonton fans and AWS conference visitors.
The Oilers made a strong push.
But Hill stood strong, blocking all 16 Edmonton shots on goal in the final period while Vegas had only two shots in the third period.
Vegas held on for the 1-0 win and improved to 16-7-3 for 35 points.
VGK coach Bruce Cassidy said after the game that the Knights played one of their best defensive matches of the season.
