GAME RECAP: Golden Knights 5, Oilers 1 (Game 3)

EDMONTON, AB - The Edmonton Oilers scored the opening goal, but they weren't able to muster up much of a response for what was about to come.

"I think hockey is a pretty fair game," Head Coach Jay Woodcroft said. "Maybe a mistake gets made here or there and you're able to claw your way back in, but tonight, I just didn't think were sharp.

"I didn't think we had it. I didn't think we skated well. I didn't think our battle level was where it needed to be."

Forward Warren Foegele found the back of the net for his first goal of the playoffs inside the first three minutes of regulation, but it was all White, Grey and Gold the rest of the way after the Vegas Golden Knights scored five unanswered at Rogers Place to claim a 5-1 victory and re-take the series lead in Game 3 of their second-round series on Monday.

"To a man, not our finest hour in any way," Woodcroft added.

Jack Eichel let the Golden Knights' charge with a goal and two assists, while Jonathan Marchessault had two first-period goals to push Vegas to a 2-1 advantage through 20 minutes that the visitors wouldn't relinquish.

"I just think we didn't defend to the standard that I think we hold ourselves to at this point this time of year," defenceman Darnell Nurse said. "It's hard to win hockey games, and it's hard to win hockey games if you're not doing the right things in the hard area. So we'll watch it tomorrow and get back on the right foot."

Stuart Skinner made 19 saves on 23 shots before being relieved by Jack Campbell near the midway mark of the second period.

Vegas netminder Laurent Brossoit left the game due to injury prior to his Oilers counterpart's departure in the middle frame, leaving Adin Hill to make the final 25 saves in Vegas' response victory in Game 4 after losing by the same 5-1 scoreline in Saturday's Game 2 at T-Mobile Arena.

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FIRST FOE-GOAL

Foe-go to the net and get rewarded.

Warren Foegele has been all around the action without a goal so far in these playoffs, but the 27-year-old got his just rewards when he opened the scoring at 2:45 of the first period.

Beaming up the ice on a rush with Derek Ryan, Foegele won the race through the middle of the neutral zone against three other Golden Knights to put himself in position to receive a sweet feed from Ryan, who tucked his head and went around a Vegas defenceman before finding his winger at the back door to redirect an early Oilers lead under the right arm of Laurent Brossoit.

McLeod picked up the secondary helper with the stationary cross-ice feed to Ryan for his fourth assist of the postseason.

"It's nice to have Derek Ryan back in the lineup," Woodcroft said. "I think that group when they play together have a good chemistry. They play forward, they play simple, and because they play forward and simple, they play a faster type of game.

"They were able to convert early. For us, that's a positive, but I think anytime they're going, it makes us a deeper team."

MARCHESSAULT MAKES HIS MARK

Vegas Head Coach Bruce Cassidy said in his morning media availability that he felt Marchessault was due for a breakout in this series.

In the first frame, the bench boss' prediction came true.

The Golden Knights got their response 1:59 after Foegele's opening goal when the puck was won beneath the legs of Cody Ceci by Jack Eichel near the front of Edmonton's net before the Vegas centre worked it over to the right-winger to jam in at the left post to make it 1-1 before the five-minute mark.

The visitors kept the pressure up on Edmonton and got a fortunate opportunity to transition up the ice quickly from their own zone after a missed high-stick on Ryan McLeod by Alex Pietrangelo.

The Golden Knights flew up the ice with numbers, with the puck landing on the stick of Eichel once again to set up a quick pass in front to Marchessault to one-tap into an open Edmonton net after Skinner was pulled out of position.

"I think we wanted to come out a little simpler, force their D to turn and go get pucks, and I think that's kind of what we did in Game 2," Ryan Nugent-Hopkins said. "Right away, we got away from it a little bit and gave them an opportunity to come back and they still kind of got to play some easy minutes to start."

Vegas led 2-1 on the scoreboard and 15-7 on the shotclock through 20 minutes in a big bounce-back period for the Golden Knights after being shelled by the Oilers for four goals in the first period in Game 2 on Saturday.

CHANGING NETMINDERS

Both goaltenders that started Game 3 wouldn't make it to the end of the game for very different and unfortunate reasons.

Former Edmonton Oil Kings goalie Laurent Brossoit lunged across to stop an open opportunity for Evander Kane in the left circle of the Golden Knights' end 8:16 into the second period, but after the puck went wide, he wasn't able to get himself back up to his feet.

The 30-year-old had to be helped off the ice by his teammates with no weight being put on his left leg and received a strong showing of support from the fanbase that cheered him on when he wore an Oil Kings sweater for parts of five WHL season from 2008-13, winning an Ed Chynoweth Cup as a WHL Champion in 2013. Adin Hill entered the game made 25 saves in relief of Brossoit.

"I think we wanted to put a little bit more on net," Nugent-Hopkins said. "I think in the third we started to put pressure him a little bit more, but at that point he's probably comfortable in there, so it doesn't really matter who's in there. We've got to put pressure on them, put pucks on and get those second and third rebounds. That kind of was our mindset in Game 2."

For Stuart Skinner, like the Edmonton Oilers as a whole over the course of Game 3, it wasn't his best night.

Zach Whitecloud sniped one glove side after Reilly Smith's drop pass at the blue line fooled both McLeod and Foegele, leading the defenceman to snagging Vegas' third goal and a 3-1 lead at 7:25 of the second period.

The task of defending another opportunity for Vegas five minutes later got even more difficult when Evan Bouchard caught an edge skating backwards, leaving Eichel all the space he needed to pick his spot over the left pad of Skinner for the 4-1 advantage with just under eight minutes remaining in the middle frame.

That spelled the end of the Oilers netminder's night after stopping 19-of-23 shots from the Golden Knights before Jack Campbell made nine saves on 10 shots the rest of the way.

"I'd characterize it as we were at the point in the game we're trying to change and slow the game down a little bit and change a little bit of the momentum," Woodcroft said. "We win as a team and we don't win as a team. This isn't done to any one individual. I keep coming back to it, but to a man, all of us can be a whole lot better.

RUINED REVIEW

The Golden Knights had to throw a hail mary of a coach's challenge during Game 2 on Saturday that went unsuccessful when they were down 4-0 and facing an insurmountable task after Draisaitl netted his second of the game near the end of the first period.

The Oilers made a similar move on Monday night, except with a much-better case for goaltender interference, and received the review that they wanted when it was deemed that Nicolas Roy's goal was unfairly scored after Campbell was taken out in the crease.

Vegas, however, shook off the decision with an immediate response. On the ensuing shift, Chandler Stephenson cut towards the Oilers net and redirected Roy's saucer pass to the netfront past Campbell after the defenceman had his goal taken back seconds earlier.

The score read 5-1 through 40 minutes for Vegas, and Edmonton wouldn't be able to answer over the final period. The loudest cheers in the final frame arrived with 4:59 remaining when Brett Howden took the Golden Knights' second penalty of the game after the Oilers red-hot power play was limited to just 1:13 of time with the man advantage before the late infraction.

"We don't control how many power plays we get," Woodcroft said. "What the impact was that we didn't have a full power play until probably 4 minutes left in the game.

PARTING WORDS

Woodcroft on if there's any concern from the Oilers not having their best in two of the three games vs. Vegas:

"No, I don't think so. I think to dress tonight up in any other way other than 'not good enough' would be false. Not good enough to a man, all of us, not good enough.

"Is it disappointing? Yeah, it's disappointing. But we understand the type of game and type of team we are and what we're capable of. In the end, whether you lose this game 1-0 in overtime or you lose it the way we lost it, there are things to learn and take out of this game and we're going to have to better. But in the end, they have two wins and we have one. It's about us making sure that doesn't happen again."

Woodcroft on generating offence when the power play is limited to 3:13 of time with the man advantage:

"Well, as I said, I think our team wasn't good enough in any area tonight. Maybe the penalty kill was the brightest spot for our team tonight. In a night with not a lot of bright spots, I think you worry about the things that are within your control, and I think there's a lot of situations all of us could have handled better."

Nurse on the qualities of the Oilers that can help them rebound in Game 4:

"You take it one game at a time. We'll come in tomorrow, analyze it, break it all down, hold ourselves accountable, and get ourselves the standards that we need to play at as a group. But like you said, we have experience now going through situations similar to this where you just take it one game at a time. Like I said, we came into this one expecting it to be a long series, and it's a test for us to come out and work the right way in Game 4."

McDavid on the large swings so far through three games in this second-round series:

"It's playoffs, right? How many times am I going to say there's going to be momentum swings, there's going to be ups and downs and all that type of stuff. And obviously you saw that tonight. A big swing back the other way, and we got to grab it too.

Nugent-Hopkins on Edmonton responding in Game 4 on Wednesday:

"We know we have more. I think that's the positive thing. We've been a good team at responding after a tough game and I expect that, come Wednesday night, we're going to bring our best game forward. But obviously, like you said, there's no time to kind of keep giving games away here. We're in a spot right now where it's now or never."