GAME RECAP: Oilers 5, Golden Knights 1 (Game 2)

LAS VEGAS, NV - Get ready, Oil Country.

We're coming home with a huge victory and an even series.

On the back of an incredible four-goal first period, the Edmonton Oilers evened up their second-round series with the Vegas Golden Knights by claiming a 5-1 victory in Game 2 at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday night.

"I thought we did a good job of capitalizing our opportunities and obviously, it's a great start for a group," Evander Kane said. "We followed up with a big shorthanded goal and a five-on-five goal, and I think we just took the game over right from the puck drop."

Leon Draisaitl remained unrelenting, scoring his 12th and 13th goals of the playoffs to match last year's post-season goal-scoring leader in only eight games. The German scored once on the power play and again at even strength as part of a four-goal first period for the Oilers that included tallies from Evan Bouchard and Connor McDavid.

The Oilers captain recorded two goals and an assist, including a spectacular solo effort shorthanded, as one of five Oilers with multi-point outings alonside Draisaitl, Bouchard, Zach Hyman and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.

Netminder Stuart Skinner still had to be sharp with 30 saves and bounced back beautifully from allowing five goals in Game 1 thanks to some stellar defensive play from his teammates that limited Vegas' influence all game -- especially in transition and on their forecheck, which were two major strong points for the Golden Knights in Game 1.

The series shifts to Edmonton for Games 3 & 4 at Rogers Place on Monday and Wednesday.

"That's one game," Head Coach Jay Woodcroft said. "They have one on the board, we have one on the board, and now we get to go home to the best fans in the National Hockey League."

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FIRST BLOOD

This is becoming ridiculous.

Draisaitl added yet ANOTHER tally to his already double-digit haul through eight games this postseason by finishing off a scrambled play on the man advantage to the left of the Golden Knights' net just 2:21 into the first period.

Bouchard delivered the point shot that was deflected by Hyman before it dribbled loose to the German to the left of Laurent Brossoit before the League's leading scorer was able to burger-flip his 12th goal of the playoffs over the laid-out Vegas netminder to lift the Oilers into a one-goal lead.

"In the playoffs, special teams can win you games," Draisaitl said. "Obviously we rely on that partly, but we're also working for our power-play opportunities. We're a hard team to defend and when we do get the chance, try and capitalize."

After continuing his goal streak on the road to begin the postseason, Draisaitl became the first player since Fred "Cyclone" Taylor with the Vancouver Millionaires back in 1918 to score eight goals in his first five road games in the playoffs -- the season before the blue line was added into the rules of the game.

The goal was also the German's 30th career playoff goal in only his 45th game, which is the second-fastest rate in Oilers history behind Wayne Gretzky (37).

BOUCH BLAST

When the lane's open, just let it fly.

Bouchard might've blasted the hardest-ever 'Bouch Bomb' of his career when he tee'd one up from the top of the zone and beat a screened Brossoit -- once again put in place by Hyman -- on Edmonton's second power play in the opening seven minutes.

"He obviously has an absolute bomb," Draisaitl said.

The puck was in the back of the net before you could blink, speeding past Hyman and beyond the sliding Brossoit, who couldn't get a clean look at the puck before the netminder slid out the other side of the Vegas crease almost perplexted at what just happened.

"He's had time understudying. It's not all brand new to him," Woodcroft said of Bouchard's ability on the power play. "He has an understanding of how it flows. He does have a big shot, but he brings a puck up the ice well, and the more experience he gets on it, the better he will be and he's been pretty good."

Edmonton had started off just the way they would've wanted.

"I thought we had our skating legs, or sea legs, under us right off the bat and right from the very first shift," Woodcroft said. "I thought we were able to come at their team in waves. There was a reason they took the penalties they did, because we were playing at a certain pace."

SHORTHANDED EFFORT

A soft holding penalty on Mattias Ekholm in the defensive zone two-and-a-half minutes after Bouchard's 2-0 tally could've turned things around for the Golden Knights. Instead, McDavid turned on the jets for the Blue & Orange to keep things out of reach for the Gold & Black with an incredible effort that led to a shorthanded tally.

The Oilers captain made a smart play at the blueline shorthanded reading the pass across the blueline and laying down his stick to intercept the pass and send him in on a foot race up the ice with defenceman Shea Theodore.

Fending the Vegas blueliner off, McDavid slid his ensuing shout under the elevated left pad of Brossoit, which was only an inch or two off the ice, but he found the opening to lift Edmonton into a three-goal lead with his fourth goal of the playoffs, and we weren't even out of the first period yet.

"I just thought we played a lot faster. I thought were more connected," McDavid said. "I thought were a little bit more aggressive and all the things that we've been building toward."

LEON KNOWS NO LIMITS

All of the sudden, the NHL record of 19 goals in a single postseason set by Reggie Leach and Jari Kurri doesn't seem out of reach.

"He's been phenomenal in terms of his finishing ability, burying his chances and just carrying us -- especially in that first game," Kane said. "So when he's playing like that and we get other contributions from up and down the lineup, we're a tough team to beat."

Draisaitl just had to wait for the puck to come to him on this occasion when he provided the pass to set up Kailer Yamamoto for an open look in front, but after missing wide, the winger sweeped the loose puck up and rounded the net before putting it on the stick of the German to score his 13th goal in his eighth post-season appearance.

Draisaitl became the first NHL player since former Oilers forward Jari Kurri to score 13 goals in an eight-game span of a single postseason after the Finnish skater accomplished the feat for Edmonton en route to the franchise's second Stanley Cup in 1985.

Desperation drove the Golden Knights to challenge the play after Hyman was cross-checked from behind by a Vegas defenceman into Brossoit, but they fell on the sword for their decision and took a minor penalty that the Oilers surprisingly couldn't cash in.

At the end of the first period, the Oilers were up 4-0 and leading 16-3 in shots.

MCDAVID MAKES IT FIVE

On another Oilers power play in the second period, the captain snuck Edmonton's fifth of the game short side on Brossoit when there was no angle whatsoever, but the captain doesn't deal in those types of absolutes.

McDavid recorded two goals and an assist for his six straight multi-point game to become the first player in NHL history to have two such streaks in the Stanley Cup playoffs after having seven in last year's postseason.

After Connor was able to come up with his second of the game from the tightest of angles, the Oilers player play improved to 3-for-5 on the night and 14-for-24 in the 2023 playoffs. Edmonton's incredible power-play percentage actually dropped a few percentage points from 57.9 percent to 56 percent. Just absurd numbers when you think about them.

"It's big part of our team identity, and when teams are undisciplined and run around, it's one of the ways we can make them pay," Woodcroft said. "One of the ways."

SAVE OF THE GAME

The second and third periods didn't have the Vegas lights and the fireworks that the first period had, but stops still need to be made. Stuart Skinner kept calm, cool and composed.

The 24-year-old netminder would eventually be beaten early in the third period on a fortunate even-strength deflection for Ivan Barbashev, but that'd be it for Vegas. They had a few sniffs at the net in the third period, including their best on a Yamamoto penalty for holding the stick, but the netminder was still able to reach out with his arms from his back to deny Jonathan Marchessault what he thought might've been an easy goal.

Skinner stood by to make 30 saves in the victory as Edmonton equalized the series heading back to Edmonton for Game 3 at Rogers Place on Monday night.

PARTING WORDS

Woodcroft on his team's ability to respond to the physicality Vegas tried to impose in the third period:

"I would start right off the bat by saying I liked the way our team responded tonight. From how we played in game number one, I think that's the true measure of any team is how you respond or how you react when things don't go your way. And certainly in game number one, that game didn't go the way we wanted it to. I think it was the first regulation loss in seven or eight weeks or something like that. So how we responded, I'm proud of our team.

"We talk a lot about being mentally tough, and part of being I think being mentally tough is a choice you make. There's going to be disappointments and setbacks along the way, but how you react or respond. I think that's really important in terms of the physical play and all that type of stuff. We have more than enough people that can take care of that side of things, and I was proud of our team togetherness today."

McDavid on the Oilers being able to keep the puck away from Vegas for most of the game:

"Yeah, I thought we did a much better job managing pucks. We didn't really turn many pucks over. I thought in Game 1 our turnovers kind of fed their transition and made it tough for our D to have gaps, and I thought we did a great job of getting on the forecheck and making them come through five guys and the full 200 feet."

McDavid on what worked for the Oilers in Game 2:

"I just thought we played a lot faster. I thought we were more connected. I thought we were a little bit more aggressive. All the things that we've been building towards."

McDavid on taking advantage of Vegas's lack of discipline:

"Certainly if they want to run around and play that type of game, then we'll play on the power play all night if that's what they want. At the end of the day, we're not going to sit back and take it though, either. I thought we did a good job of a good mixing standing in there and sticking up for one another and also kind of staying disciplined like we always talk about."

McDavid on the play of Stuart Skinner on Saturday night:

"we weren't good enough in front of him in Game 1, and that's hard on a goalie and it shake you a little bit, but Game 1had nothing to do with him; It was all about the play in front of him. We got great belief in Stu and he's shown it all year long that he can step up. He's played in moments like this throughout his career, he's just doing at the highest level now, but he's won everywhere: Junior, American League, so he's a winner and he showed that again tonight."

Leon Draisaitl on only being seven goals away from the playoff record after eight games:

"Just get ready for the next one. I think it's a cliche and everyone will say it, but that's just the way it is. That's the way we work. I'm sure that's the way every player in this league works. You do your part and try to do it as good as you can every night you move on. Get ready for Game 3"

Draisaitl on the physicality late in the game shown by both teams:

"I think again, that we can play any type of game that a team throws at us, but we obviously don't want to rely on scoring. Having to score four or five goals every single night, that's not how we go into games. We go into games with a mindset of defending first and our skill set eventually will take over and I think if we stick to that, some nights it works better than others, but if we stick to that, I like our chances."