EDMONTON, AB – Not a great Knight.
After the Oilers were leading by a goal through two-and-a-half periods, defenceman Noah Hanifin scored twice for the Golden Knights, including the game-winner with 48.4 seconds remaining, before Vegas added an empty-netter to steal the two points on Wednesday night in a 4-2 victory at Rogers Place.
"Very frustrating," defenceman Mattias Ekholm said. "I thought we played a good team well for 59 minutes, and it's a heartbreaking loss on that side of it.
"At the end of the day, as hard as this feels and as much as it sucks right now, you're going to have to learn from it and move on."
Vegas had the initial advantage on Jack Eichel's breakaway goal in the first period until Brett Kulak and Zach Hyman responded for the Oilers over a 3:38 span of the middle frame, lifting the Oilers into the lead heading into the final 20 minutes.
During the third period, Hanifin scored on the power play midway through the frame, then delivered the dagger in the final minute of regulation on an uncontested shot from the left side to sink the Oilers to a last-gasp defeat that drops them to 6-7-1 this season.
Jack Eichel scored a goal and added two assists for the Golden Knights, while Ivan Barbashev contributed three helpers. Stuart Skinner made 31 saves for the Oilers but ended up with the loss against Adin Hill, who stopped 27 shots in Vegas' victory.
Connor McDavid was held pointless in his return from a four-game injury absence, and Darnell Nurse and Connor Brown each picked up assists.
The Oilers aim to shake it off before hitting the road to face the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday in another important Pacific Division matchup.