The Edmonton Oilers racked up four goals in the first period on the way to a 5-1 win over the Vegas Golden Knights Saturday night.
“I thought it was a good game for our team,” Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft said. “We were fast. We were physical. We got on top of them early and we’re able to assert the type of game we wanted to play tonight.”
The best-of-seven series is tied 1-1.
Leon Draisaitl picked up where he left off after his four-goal outburst in Game 1. He gave the Oilers the lead with a power play goal 2:21 into the game. On another power play less than five minutes later, Evan Bouchard pounded the puck past Laurent Brossoit to make to 2-0.
While killing a penalty later in the first, Connor McDavid worked the puck away from Shea Theodore, drove to the net and slid a shot under Brossoit’s pad for the Oilers first shorthanded goal of the post-season. Draisaitl added another goal before the end of the period, banging in a feed from Kailer Yamamoto.
“He’s playing on another level,” McDavid said when asked about Draisaitl. “I’m not sure why anyone would be surprised at this point. He’s the best player in the world a lot of nights. He’s shown that on a regular basis.”
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Chandler Stephenson made a bid to get Vegas on the board in the second, but his backhand try on a breakaway was turned aside by Stuart Skinner. McDavid made it 5-0 when he beat Brossoit short side on the power play.
“It’s a big part of our team identity and when teams are undisciplined and run around, it’s one of the ways we can make them pay — one of the ways,” Woodcroft said.
Oilers forward Evander Kane was in the middle of a second-period fray, where he ended up receiving a double minor for roughing and a ten minute misconduct.
“We get up five nothing and we know they’re going to try to run around and get involved in the game somehow,” Kane said. “I thought we did a great job answering there. Guys want to swing their sticks and hit guys on top of the head, hopefully somebody takes a look at that.”
“We stuck up for each other when we had to. We’re a team I don’t think can be punished physically. We like to do the punishing.”
Adin Hill replaced Brossoit (26 saves on 31 shots) to start the third. Ivan Barbashev batted a puck in out of the air early in the third.
McDavid had two goals and an asssist. Zach Hyman had three assists. Skinner finished with 30 saves.
Game 3 is Monday at Rogers Place (630 CHED, Face-off Show at 4:30 p.m., game at 6:30 p.m.).
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