GAME RECAP: Golden Knights 4, Oilers 3 (OT)

EDMONTON, AB - Leon Draisaitl set a new career-high for points with a goal and assist, but the Edmonton Oilers were unable to win their third straight game in overtime to gain ground on the Vegas Golden Knights in the Pacific Division after falling 4-3 in overtime on Pride Night at Rogers Place.
"I think going into tonight, we knew how important this game was to us," Warren Foegele, who scored in the defeat, said post-game. "We wanted those two points and just came up a little bit short, but it was competitive game. I thought from start of the game they had their push, and we had ours. It was kind of going both ways."
Draisaitl set up Zach Hyman's 31st goal of the year in the first period to reach 111 points before the German scored his 28th power-play goal and 45th of the season to tie the game at 2-2 just past the midway mark of the contest. Foegele equalized for Edmonton again 11:29 into the final frame to ultimately force overtime, where Vegas forward Nicolas Roy notched the game-winner to secure the Golden Knights the extra point.
"It was a tight game. It's what you expect in the playoffs," Draisaitl said post-game. "Obviously a team that we could face, so I think we know how to handle these types of games. Tonight didn't go our way, but we'll take the point."
The Oilers saw their win streak end at five games and record fall to 41-23-9, while Vegas pushed their lead over Edmonton for first place in the Pacific Division to seven points with nine games remaining for both sides in the regular season.
The two won't have to wait long to renew hostilities when the Oilers visit the Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena on Tuesday night in the second of a back-to-back for Edmonton following Monday's meeting in Arizona with the Coyotes.

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FIRST OPPORTUNITIES

Two shots, two goals.
The Oilers didn't get the start they wanted when Jack Eichel buried Vegas' first shot of the game on an odd-man rush just 1:01 after the opening puck drop, but
Zach Hyman
followed it up two-and-a-half minutes later on Edmonton's first chance to beat former netminder Laurent Brossoit.
Draisaitl picked off an attempted pass in the neutral zone and worked the puck down across the blueline to the right hashmarks, where he offloaded it to
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins
. The German escaped pressure and got a return pass from Nuge before one-touching it to the back post, where Hyman was waiting to redirect his 31st of the season and Edmonton's response goal past Brossoit on their own first shot.
Recording the primary assist on the play extended Draisaitl's point streak to eight games and a new career high of 111 points, beating the 110-point total he's reached twice in his career during the '19-20 and '21-22 seasons.

(POWER) PLAY OF THE GAME

Of all the different ways the dominant Oilers power play scores goals, McDavid feeding Draisaitl on his backhand for a quick and deceptive shot might be one of our favourites.
We saw it utilized for the first time by the Dynamic Duo in early March of 2020 during an 8-3 victory over the Nashville Predators where both McDavid and Draisaitl had five-point nights, including four goals for Leon. The move was back out of Edmonton's bag of tricks on Saturday night to level the game at 2-2 with 10:30 gone in the second period after Pavel Dorofeyev's PPG had the Golden Knights ahead before the first intermission.
Seeing the space open for himself in the right circle, Draisaitl turned his back and opened himself up to receive McDavid's feed on his backhand before ripping a sneaky shot five-hole under Brossoit for his 45th goal of the season.

SAVE OF THE GAME

A strong press from the visiting Golden Knights to open the third period was tough to handle for the Oilers.
But luckily for them, as he has been all season,
Stuart Skinner
was there. Vegas forward Nicolas Roy turned at the top of the Oilers zone and found himself with a lane to the net, but Skinner denied him with the glove on a stretching save that kept the two Pacific Division rivals deadlocked at 17:28 of the third period.
The Edmonton product made his 42nd start of the season and eighth in the Oilers last nine games as he chases down Grant Fuhr's franchise record 28 wins from a rookie netminder in the 1981-82. After the loss, Skinner owns a 23-15-4 record but remains firmly in consideration for Calder Memorial Trophy as the League's best rookie.

OVERTIME AND OUT OF LUCK

With how tight this pivotal Pacific duel was all evening, it was going to be one small break or one small slip-up that would decide who'd be going home with the two important points.
"I thought we had chances to win it. I thought they did as well," defenceman Mattias Ekholm said. "A hard-working game and as you can see, it comes down to the little details all the time."
Jonathan Marchessault's one-timer from the slot 6:57 into the final frame had the Golden Knights looking like they'd leave Rogers Place as winners at the midway point of the period until Foegele snuck one through Brossoit over the left pad that the former Oilers netminder would've wanted back.

The two division-title contenders traded chances in the last 10 minutes, but overtime would be where the result was ultimately finalized.
At the end of possession-heavy stint during extra time with the Oilers players gassed from a long shift, Nicolas Roy found himself unmarked in front of Skinner to take two cracks at dangling the Oilers netminder before he banged home the rebound to secure the Golden Knights the extra point that will prove to be important in the Pacific playoff race.
"We were on the attack there for a little bit and when you lose the puck in the offensive zone, it's hard to get off [the ice]," Ekholm said. "They're going and then obviously know we're gassed out there. They're not taking any chances. They're just rolling around and getting fresh guys out there."
"I thought were as good as they were, we could've won the game as much as they did but they got it done tonight and we'll have to learn from it."
The Oilers had won two straight in overtime and come-from-behind fashion prior to Saturday, but it was not meant to be on this occasion.

PARTING WORDS

Woodcroft on lessons learned from a tight divisional battle with Vegas:
"I think what you do is pay attention. I think both teams were prepared to play the game tonight. Both teams did good things, both teams had moments. I thought our best moments were in the second period, but in the end, we got one point tonight. In the regular season, they found a way to score a goal in 3-on-3 overtime off a breakdown.
Foegele on approaching the final nine games of the regular season and playoffs:
"Yeah, it's going to be competitive moving forward just like tonight was and you just kind of take it day-by-day. But we're definitely not happy that we didn't get two points and that they got points as well, so we'll watch the film and we'll get back on track."
"I think everyone here is itching for [playoffs], but there are still things we're cleaning up with the nine games that got left and we're just getting ready for the start of playoffs."

Draisaitl on the Oilers playoff readiness after Saturday's test against Vegas:
"I think we're playing well for the most part playing some good teams. No one's going to give you anything for free, but yeah, I think we're playing alright. A couple of things we got to clean up and then I think we're ready to go."
Draisaitl on the Oilers improving their starts:
"It's definitely something that we talk about in the dressing room. We want to come out with good legs and get to our game first, and some nights it works better than others, so definitely they're something we can continue to improve."