By Daniel Nugent-Bowman, Jesse Granger and Mark Lazerus
LAS VEGAS — Technically speaking, the Edmonton Oilers extended their NHL record with a sixth straight comeback victory on Thursday night.
But they had to blow a lead of their own first.
The Oilers squandered a two-goal third-period lead but still pulled out a 5-4 victory on Leon Draisaitl’s overtime winner in Game 2, taking a 2-0 series lead in their second-round series with the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday night at T-Mobile Arena. Connor McDavid took a Corey Perry pass and raced into the Vegas zone, teeing up Draisaitl for the winner off the rush.
Since dropping the first two games against the Los Angeles Kings in the first round, the Oilers have scored 29 goals in their six consecutive wins. And McDavid only has one of them.
Edmonton seemed poised for yet another comeback win (the traditional way), falling behind 1-0 early but getting three straight second-period goals by Jake Walman (a blast from the point that banked in off Brayden McNabb’s knee), Vasily Podkolzin (an unscreened shot from the high slot) and Darnell Nurse (another unscreened shot from the high slot). The Oilers were up 3-1 and Vegas goaltender Adin Hill was struggling mightily.
But William Karlsson injected some life into his team with a goal late in the second period, deflecting a Jack Eichel shot. And after Evander Kane knocked in a Zach Hyman feed 1:52 into the third to regain the two-goal lead for Edmonton, Vegas came alive. First, Victor Olofsson scored his second power-play goal of the game — both of them one-timers from the right circle — and then Alex Pietrangelo, who missed Game 1 with an illness, beat Pickard with a low shot from the point to tie it. Hill made a massive stop on Perry with less than two minutes left to preserve the tie and get the game to overtime.
Edmonton had a golden opportunity to end it earlier in overtime when Vegas’ Nicolas Roy inexplicably cross-checked Trent Frederic in the face, earning a five-minute major (and likely a long look from the department of player safety). But Hill stood tall during the kill, stopping all eight Edmonton shots on goal to keep the game going.
Oilers goaltender Calvin Pickard, a career backup and AHL tweener who wasn’t expected to see much time in goal in this postseason considering Stuart Skinner backstopped the Oilers to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final a year ago, improved to 6-0 in these playoffs despite the shaky third period. He finished with 28 saves, including a big denial of a Tanner Pearson breakaway shortly before Podkolzin scored the go-ahead goal in the second period, and a hold-your-breath pair of stops on Tomas Hertl and Olofsson barely a minute into overtime. It wasn’t always the prettiest, but with Edmonton’s firepower (all 12 Oilers forwards have scored in the playoffs already), it was once again good enough.
“He’s just enjoying the moment,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said of Pickard before the game. “He’s been through a long stretch getting to where he wants to get, and just being a third-string goalie on a team. He got a lot of call-ups, and then back to the American League. And then he finally got his footing as an NHL regular goaltender. Now he’s getting the opportunity to get consecutive starts in the playoffs. I don’t think anything can rattle him right now.”
With two road wins to open the series, the Oilers head home looking to secure their third trip to the Western Conference final in four years.
The Golden Knights are now 0-5 in Game 2 in the second round. However, they went on to win all four of their previous second-round series, including the 2023 matchup against Edmonton.
This is the first time Vegas has lost both home games to open a playoff series. It’s only the second time the team has gone down 0-2 in any fashion. The other was in 2021 against the Colorado Avalanche, which the Golden Knights came back to win 4-2.
This story will be updated.
(Photo: Ethan Miller / Getty Images)