GAME RECAP: Golden Knights 4, Oilers 2

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.

FIRST PERIOD

Vegas goaltender Adin Hill was looking behind him on Edmonton's first big chance past the five-minute mark of the opening period, squeezing Brett Kulak's shot from the right circle under his left arm after Leon Draisaitl picked out the defenceman with a cross-ice pass from just inside the blueline.

When the Golden Knights went back up the ice, Stuart Skinner used the shaft of his stick to thwart Alexander Holtz's dangerous look off the rush before he made a smart pad save on the follow-up opportunity for the forward in front just seconds later, coming out from behind the net to test the netminder again.

Vasily Podkolzin tried to bang a loose puck past Hill before the period's mid-way mark, but the Russian forward struck the side of the post as he continues to search for his first goal as an Oilers next to Leon Draisaitl and Viktor Arvidsson on the second line.

After Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had arguably Edmonton's best chance on an in-close attempt off the rush delivered in front by Connor Brown, the Oilers would head to the power play on a delayed high-sticking call at the other end. However, it was a similar story to Monday night for the Blue & Orange when they couldn't convert with the man advantage before their opponents broke the deadlock a few minutes later.

The Golden Knights broke out of their own zone with just over four minutes left in the period and outhustled the Oilers in the neutral zone, giving Jack Eichel a lane through the middle of Edmonton's defence for a breakaway before he dangled Stuart Skinner and finished his move to make it 1-0 for Vegas.

SECOND PERIOD

There's some of that puck luck that the Oilers feel they've been owed in the early games of the regular season.

Edmonton had a few good looks in the first 10 minutes of the middle frame on Wednesday, but it was in the second half where two of their opportunities found their way into the Golden Knights' goal in some unexpected ways – with their eventual go-ahead goal needing a little bit of good fortune to happen.

"Tonight's a great example where we just worked, worked, worked and worked, and it takes a lot to put [chances] in right now," Nugent-Hopkins said. "I think we're still creating lots of chances. We're bearing down when we have chances, but we've faced some goalies who are playing well against us and I think sometimes, you just need to continue and put your head down and get a bounce here or there.

"I think when you get those bounces, it's because of your work ethic, and obviously, we're not going to stop."

Defenceman Brett Kulak was positioned between the hash marks and looked like he was playing forward when the Stony Plain product tipped Darnell Nurse's point shot into the far top corner beyond Adin Hill, tying the contest at 1-1 with 7:42 to go in the period.

The Parkland County Kid scored twice last week in Edmonton's 5-1 win over Nashville and now has three goals on the season, which equals his entire total from the last campaign in only 14 games.

"I think the last handful of games, I've been getting more ice time," Kulak, who recorded a season-high 23:48 of ice time, said post-game. "It's pushed me into different situations and just makes me better."

About four minutes later, Zach Hyman was the benefactor of a friendly bounce behind Vegas' net that fell after Alex Pietrangelo's attempt at rimming the puck struck a stanchion and fell right to him, allowing the 32-year-old winger to take advantage of Hill's unawareness to put it away at the near post and lift the Oilers into a 2-1 lead.

The 20 minutes still included stellar goalkeeping from Stuart Skinner, who made two fantastic saves against Alexander Holtz once again after denying the forward twice in succession earlier in the contest.

When the Golden Knights won the puck down low in the last two minutes of the period, it was put in front by Tanner Pearson to give Holtz a chance to slide it around the goaltender, but Skinner sprawled out with the right pad to take away the chance before losing his stick in the crease.

That didn't phase the Edmonton-born shot-stopper, who then flashed the leather on Holtz from the left circle to draw one of the loudest "Stuuuuuuus!" we've heard inside Rogers Place this season after keeping it a one-goal game in favour of the Oilers through two periods.

THIRD PERIOD

After Stuart Skinner made the miraculous save to close out the middle frame, it was Adin Hill's turn to punctuate a period with an incredible stop.

Draisaitl and Podkolzin exchanged passes on the left side of Vegas' zone to pull Hill to the left post, leaving Arvidsson wide open in the opposite circle. The Swedish forward received the puck and uncorked a one-timer that looked like a certain goal, but the Vegas netminder came across to make the incredible stop.

It would prove to be an important save, too.

The Oilers couldn't keep the Golden Knights from converting their second power play of the evening, which arrived with over 11 minutes left in the third period when Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was called for holding below the Golden Knights' goal line.

"I don't want to get into it too much," Nugent-Hopkins said of his penalty. "[The official] makes a call and I'm trying to just make a play on it. From his angle, it's a penalty, and he calls it. It's a tough time to take it as a killer, especially the way it's kind of gone so far for us."

Edmonton's penalty kill had nearly made it through the full two-minute infraction before Noah Hanifin sifted a shot from the point through Skinner's five-hole from distance, equalizing the contest at 2-2 with 9:55 remaining on a shot that Skinner definitely would've wanted back.

"It's not fun being in that penalty box, especially at that time," Nugent-Hopkins continued. "We worked so hard the rest of the game, so I'd obviously like to have that one back."

When it looked like overtime would be needed, the Golden Knights still had time on the clock to steal the two points in the final minute of regulation.

Hanifin was left unchecked on the left side, leading to forward Tomas Hertl winning the puck off a dump-in against Mattias Ekholm and pushing it to Hanifin for him to notch the game-winner on a snap shot under the glove of Stuart Skinner with 48.4 seconds remaining.

"On the last one, they rimmed the puck in and we got into a battle where there should be support in the corner," Knoblauch said. "But there wasn't any support, so it looks bad on Ekky, but it's not on him. Ekky should've had help there and they were able to make that cross-ice pass."

"It makes it very difficult for a goalie to make that save going east-west and down the slot. Just about a minute before that, we almost gave up a very similar shot, and that just can't happen if you want to win hockey games regularly."

"We can't have somebody walk down when we're four-on-two in the D zone," Ekholm said. "Plain and simple."