GAME RECAP: Oilers 3, Golden Knights 2

LAS VEGAS, NV - Sin City was Finn City on Saturday as Mikko Koskinen made 36 saves and Jesse Puljujarvi scored the game-winning goal to lead the Oilers to a 3-2 victory.

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FIRST BLOOD

Earning the game's opening goal has been a challenge for the Oilers of late as they'd gone down 1-0 in nine of their last 10 matchups, but they bucked that trend on Saturday with a pair of tallies late in the first period, starting with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins. The scoring play started as Tyson Barrie intercepted a Golden Knights pass in the Oilers zone and sent Nugent-Hopkins in on a two-on-one with Kailer Yamamoto. The veteran forward got netminder Robin Lehner to think he was going to pass to Yamamoto before sniping a wrist shot just inside the far post for his second goal and 20th point of the season.

PLAY OF THE GAME

Just 1:54 after Nugent-Hopkins tallied the opening goal, Zach Hyman extended Edmonton's lead to 2-0 with 16 seconds remaining in the first period on an impressive individual effort. The Golden Knights gave up the puck again inside the Oilers blue line as Zack Kassian chipped it ahead into the neutral zone for his almost-namesake. Hyman burst into Vegas territory and held off Mark Stone in pursuit before beating Lehner with a beautiful backhand deke for his ninth goal and 15th point of the campaign.

SAVE OF THE GAME

Kris Russell commented after Oilers practice on Friday that the team needed to be wary of how strong the Golden Knights tend to start on home ice, and that's exactly what happened come game time, but fortunately Mikko Koskinen was up to the task. The netminder made many highlight-reel stops in the opening frame, turning aside all 14 shots he faced including a point-blank glove denial on Jonathan Marchessault with 8:54 to go in the period. Koskinen stopped an initial shot by Nicolas Roy before flashing the leather emphatically on Marchessault who had snuck in for the rebound.

TURNING POINT

Edmonton's terrific turnover transition game was on display again in the middle frame as they manufactured a quick steal into a goal for the third time on the night. Evan Bouchard sent Jesse Puljujarvi in alone on Lehner and he converted his seventh of the season and 16th point with a nifty forehand five-hole deke for the eventual game-winner at the 6:39 mark of the period.

TOP PERFORMER

Koskinen was colossal between the Oilers pipes, turning aside 36 of the 38 shots he faced to improve to 11-2-0 on the season. He back-stopped the team to back-to-back wins to close out the three-game road trip, following up on his 24-save outing against the Coyotes in Arizona on Wednesday.

PARTING WORDS

Koskinen on a busy first period that included him making 14 saves and Russell setting the NHL's all-time blocked shots record:
"We knew they were going to come out hard and we needed to survive the first 10 minutes, and that's exactly what happened. Then we got our legs going and ended up leading 2-0 after the first period, so it was a really good start for us. I think the team got a lot of energy when Kris Russell made those two blocks and became the all-time leader in blocked shots. That's pretty amazing. Everyone was so happy for him."
Nugent-Hopkins on Koskinen's performance:
"Pretty special, for sure. I think to start the game he had five highlight-reel saves. As a team, we don't want to make him do that, but they were incredible stops to start the game. He was solid when we needed him late too."

Nugent-Hopkins on Russell's shot-blocking record:
"It's unbelievable to think about. All the players that have played in this league and Rusty's blocked the most shots. But it's no surprise, he puts himself in front of any shot, it doesn't matter how hard it is or who's shooting it. He's laying out and putting his body on the line every night, so it's a pretty incredible accomplishment."
Head Coach Dave Tippett on Russell's blocks:
"Six blocks out of every 10 will sting you a little bit, and there's four out of every 10 that really hurt. And to think a guy like that has done it 2,000 times, it's incredible. Our team was really happy for him tonight."
Nugent-Hopkins on Hyman's highlight-reel goal:
"It was late in the shift too, so he probably didn't have all of his energy, but he did a great job of protecting the puck. He really protects the puck like only a few other guys in the league. He's really strong on it, and then the ability to put it up into a good spot is pretty hard to do. It's not surprising he can fend off a guy like (Mark Stone), because he's really strong on the puck, but to show the patience and skill and ability to put it in a good spot like that is impressive."