EDMONTON, Alberta — The Vegas Golden Knights are again in acquainted territory within the Western Conference ultimate.
Jonathan Marchessault scored three targets for his second profession postseason hat trick because the Golden Knights beat the Edmonton Oilers 5-2 in Game 6 of their second-round sequence on Sunday evening to succeed in the semifinal spherical for the fourth time within the franchise’s six-year historical past.
“We’re only halfway done to our goal here,” Marchessault mentioned. “We’re going to keep going until our organization, we win the ultimate goal. Tonight is just one step in the right direction.”
Reilly Smith and William Karlsson additionally scored for the Golden Knights, and Ivan Barbashev had two assists. Adin Hill completed with 39 saves in his third profession playoff begin.
“I’ve worked very hard my whole life to get to the NHL and to be here,” the 27-year-old Hill mentioned. “It’s exciting being on a team that’s this good and has chance to really do it all, I’m grateful and I’m excited about it.”
Vegas will subsequent face the winner of the sequence between Dallas and Seattle, which heads to a Game 7 on Monday evening.
The Golden Knights nonetheless have half a dozen gamers from the workforce that reached the Stanley Cup Final of their inaugural season in 2017-18.
“We have a lot of older guys on the team that have been through a lot of situations,” Marchessault mentioned. “We don’t panic. It’s one of our strengths and it’s definitely going to help in the future.”
Connor McDavid and Warren Foegele scored early within the first interval for Edmonton, which led 2-1 lower than three minutes into the sport. Stuart Skinner gave up 4 targets on 17 pictures via two intervals, and Jack Campbell stopped all 4 pictures he confronted within the third.
The Oilers fell in need of returning to the convention ultimate for the second straight 12 months after shedding to eventual Stanley Cup champion Colorado a 12 months in the past.
“It hurts,” Edmonton ahead Leon Draisaitl mentioned with a shaking voice. “It’s tough to find words right now. When you start a season, you’re in it to win it. We’re at that stage. If you don’t complete that, it feels like a failure or a wasted year almost. It hurts.”
Edmonton’s loss formally prolonged the drought for a Canadian workforce successful the Cup to 30 years since Montreal gained in 1993.
Marchessault tied the rating 2-2 at 4:26 of second interval because the puck redirected off a skate in entrance of the crease and the fitting wing fired it into the opening as Skinner slid throughout the goalmouth to attempt to cease him.
“A little bit of lack of execution defensively in the second period ended up really hurting us tonight,” Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft mentioned.
Marchessault then put Vegas forward at 7:44. After a slap shot by Alec Martinez deflected into the air off Skinner’s shoulder and landed on the purpose line, Marchessault tapped it in.
Seconds after a Vegas energy play expired late within the center interval, Marchessault accomplished his hat trick with a 4-on-4 purpose with 1:24 remaining. His wrist shot from simply above the hash marks on a cross-ice feed from Alex Pietrangelo beat Skinner far aspect.
Leon Draisaitl, who scored 13 targets in his first eight playoff video games, and McDavid have been reunited on the identical line within the third interval in an try to supply extra offense. The Oilers generated a number of probabilities and McDavid rang a shot off the put up.
Campbell was pulled for an additional attacker with over three minutes to play within the third, however Hill and the Golden Knights stood agency.
“What was the difference? They did a lot of good things, they shut it down,” McDavid mentioned. “The third period was clinical. We still had our looks and didn’t find a way to get one past him.”
Karlsson sealed the win with an empty-netter within the ultimate minute.
The Golden Knights held Edmonton’s vaunted energy play to 1 scoreless likelihood within the second interval. The Oilers, the NHL’s highest-scoring workforce within the common season, was held to 10 targets during the last 4 video games of the sequence.
The Knights additionally outscored Edmonton 17-10 even-strength.
“Our 5-on-5 game, I think it’s been good all year,” Marchessault mentioned. “We were down 1-0 and 2-1 quite often in that series and we battled back.”
Vegas received on the scoreboard first as Smith scored his second in two video games off an Edmonton turnover in its personal nook. Skinner cleared the puck alongside the boards right into a pair of Vegas jerseys and the puck got here out to Smith within the slot for a purpose 24 seconds into the sport.
McDavid tied it simply 31 seconds later as he received a move from Brett Kulak and beat Hill with a low shot far aspect below the goalie’s blocker.
Foegele put the Oilers forward at 2:43 when he received a backhanded move from Derek Ryan from behind the purpose line and scored whereas driving to the online.
BIG-MINUTE MEN BACK
Both golf equipment had premier defensemen again of their lineups Sunday after they served one-game suspensions in Game 5 – Edmonton’s Darnell Nurse and Vegas’s Pietrangelo.
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