The Edmonton Oilers’ Zach Hyman (18) battles the Vegas Golden Knights’ Nicolas Hague (14) and goalie Adin Hill (33) during first period NHL playoff action at Rogers Place, in Edmonton Saturday May 10, 2025. Photo by David Bloom /Postmedia
Live by the comeback, die by the comeback.
With the Edmonton Oilers storming out to an early 2-0 lead and a delirious crowd at Rogers Place turning the volume to 11, the Vegas Golden Knights reminded everyone why they won a Stanley Cup championship two years ago.
They scored three-straight goals to take a 3-2 lead.
Then, with the game destined for overtime after Connor McDavid appeared to save the day late in the third period, the Knights demonstrated more of the character and mettle that earns you a ring.
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Or, in this case, keeps you from falling into a black hole from which there is no escape.
In a stunner of all stunners, in what amounted to a do-or-die Game 3 against the Oilers, the Golden Knights are right back in the series after Reilly Smith’s jaw-dropping winner with 0.4 seconds left in regulation. Instead of 3-0 Oilers, it’s 2-1 and the Knights are right back in the series.
“The game-winning goal, we’re in good position,” said head coach Kris Knoblauch. “Really, it’s a one-on-three. He dumps the puck in, they retrieve it. We’re playing a little desperate to try and block a shot. They make a play and unfortunately that’s the end of it.
“Everyone on the ice is in desperation mode, selling out to make that last save. Unfortunately there was an extra .4 seconds on the clock to make that play happen.”
The worst part is that the puck was going across the face of the crease until Leon Draisaitl tipped it into his own net. Nobody in the building could believe what they had just witnessed until the the Vegas bench erupted and the referees confirmed it after video review.
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“That was one of the craziest things I’ve ever seen in a hockey game, but obviously it was a great play,” said Knights defenceman Nicolas Hague. “I was getting ready for overtime. The patience there was unbelievable and thank God it was good, because we were celebrating. We saw it on the bench and had a feeling it was going to be good.”
Poor Draisaitl. He just trying to make a play after Smith stepped around Connor McDavid and Darnell Nurse, who went down to block a shot, and goaltender Stuart Skinner, who came out to challenge, and threw it at the net from a sharp angle.
“We didn’t sort it out very well, to let the puck get into the slot,” sighed Draisaitl. “After that, it’s just unlucky. It’s unfortunate. It goes off my stick — I’m just trying to keep it out of the net, obviously. It’s just a bad bounce.
“Obviously it stings right now, it’s an unfortunate way to lose, but that’s on us. Tomorrow’s a new day. We’ll move on.”
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Everything was going exactly how the Oilers had hoped in the first period. Corey Perry made it 1-0 at 7:19. Then he made it 2-0 at 11:12 to become the oldest player in Oilers franchise history and third-oldest in NHL history, to score multiple goals in a playoff game.
At the other end of the ice, Skinner was getting some touches, making some saves and had the crowd at Rogers chanting his name after every save.
Up 2-0 with five minutes left in the opening period, the Oilers were cruising. Everything was going right.
Then, the self-inflicted gunshots started ringing out.
Draisaitl, fresh off his overtime winner in Game 2, turned the puck over at the Vegas blue line for a two-on-one that eventually led to the first Vegas goal.
Just 54 seconds later, Smith walked right through a couple of stick checks from Vasily Podkolzin and Viktor Arvidsson, right down main street, and scored on the breakaway to make it 2-2.
“The first one, I get stripped there,” said Draisaitl. “That puck should probably just go in (deep), so that’s on me. I think just the quickness of the two of them deflated us a little bit.”
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With three minutes left in the second period, a bad change by the Oilers gave Vegas a four-on-two and the go-ahead goal heading into the second intermission. Another easy goal for a team that needed some breaks.
“Any time you get a 2-0 lead you want to stick with it, keep pushing, play the same way, make it hard for them to generate things,” said Knoblauch. “Ultimately they will have to cheat a little bit to get bak in the game, but I don’t feel like they had to cheat to create offence, we just made some mistakes and gave that to them.”
With hope fading in the third period, McDavid tied it 3-3 at 16:58.
And, with 10 seconds left in regulation, the Knights were in their own zone.
Then, the unthinkable.
“I kind of just sprawled and went out there,” said Skinner. “I stayed with him for another half second and then he catches us with 0.4 seconds left. It’s devastating, but again, things happen. Good bounces, tough bounces. It happens for everybody. We just move forward.”
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With Calvin Pickard forced out of the lineup with an injury after six-straight wins, the responsibility for Game 3 fell on the shoulders of Skinner, back in the crease after losing the first two games against Los Angeles.
The winning streak is over, but this wasn’t on the goalie. He was better than the team in front of him. This was a second-straight game in which the Oilers weren’t at their best.
“I don’t think there were any bad goals,” said Knoblauch. “We just put him in difficult situations to defend.”
LATE HITS — The Knights welcomed Pavel Dorofeyev, a 35-goal scorer in the regular season, back into the lineup, but the attrition continued when Mark Stone left the game in the first period after sliding into Perry’s leg … With the NHL’s head of player safety George Parros having softened the league’s position on cross-checking opponents in the face (it’s just a fine now, not a suspension), the Knights had Nicolas Roy in the lineup and he scored their first goal … Perry’s two goals at 39 years, 359 days beats Willy Lindstrom’s 1984 feat by nearly seven years. The only two players to score later in life are Nick Lidstrom (41 years, 8 days) and Teemu Selanne (40 years, 288 days).
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