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Story by Alan Snel Photos by J. Tyge O’Donnell
LAS VEGAS, Nevada — Great start for the Vegas Golden Knights.
Horrible ending for the VGK.
The Vegas Golden Knights may have ambushed the Edmonton Oilers with a quick 2-0 start in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals.
Edmonton scored before the end of period one and then drilled Vegas with three goals in the third to skate away with a 4-2 win amid only 17 shots by Vegas and steal home ice from the Knights.
After the loss, Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said simply the Oilers elevated their game while the Knights did not. He also noted in his postgame presser the ice surface was not ideal and the puck was jumpy, but he added those conditions faced both teams.
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The announced crowd of 18,111 watched Vegas’ Mark Stone tip a redirected shot by William Karlsson past Edmonton netminder Calvin Pickard before Stone scored again about nine minutes into the game.
You might recall Pickard was the Golden Knights’ first selection in their expansion draft in June 2017.
The Knights were cruising.
And then they weren’t.
Edmonton pushed back and Oilers’ old man, 39-year-old Corey Perry, took a nice pass from superstar Connor McDavid at the side of the crease and skated around VGK goalie Adin Hill to tuck the puck behind him.
After one period, the Oilers trailed, 2-1, to Vegas.
Perry: “It’s huge to find a way to get one” before the period ended.
Indeed, Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch said the Perry goal gave the Oilers bench some juice going into the second period.
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The Knights were MIA in period two, mustering a mere lone shot on goal against Pickard.
Remarkably, the VGK survived the middle stanza with their 2-1 lead intact.
Hill was the VGK’s best player on the ice in period two and Vegas entered the final 20 minutes with a lead.
But it didn’t last long.
Dangerous Leon Draisaitl tied the game at two apiece only 57 seconds into the final period.
And the backbreaker for Vegas occurred whe Zach Hyman beat Hill for a 3-2 lead with slightly more than three minutes to go.
And the Oilers’ Connor Brown nailed down the Game 1 win for Edmonton with a goal at 18:14.
“We stuck to our game plan and found a way,” Perry said.
Final: Oilers 4 Knights 2