Edmonton put up three first period goals en route to a, 4-1, win over the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 4 of the Western Conference Semifinals.
Much like Game 2, the Edmonton Oilers set the tone early and often in the first period.
“We didn’t start the game the way we needed to to beat a good hockey club,” head coach Bruce Cassidy said.
Edmonton raced out to a 3-0 lead within the first 13:30 minutes of the game, similar to what happened in Game 2 of this series when the Oilers grabbed a 4-0 lead by the end of the first period in what would be a 5-1 win in Vegas.
The Oilers were led by center Connor McDavid who led the team in scoring with two assists in the game and was awarded the second star of the game.
With the series tied at two games each, the series now shifts back to Las Vegas for game five of this best-of-seven matchup. Puck drop is set for 7 p,m. Pacific inside the confines of T-mobile Arena.
Wednesday marked the first time in over two months that Vegas goaltender Adin Hill made a start dating back to March 7 on the road against the Florida Panthers. In his first playoff start of the season, Hill surrendered four goals on 33 shots faced for a final save percentage of .879.
The only other time Hill has seen the ice since that early March date was the third period of game two and most of the game in game three as he came in for the injured Laurent Brossoit.
On the other side of the rink, Edmonton goaltender Stuart Skinner saved 25 of the 26 shots he faced for a final save percentage of .962 in the series-tying win.
With the Oilers leading 3-0 at the end of the first period, Vegas found themselves trailing for the fourth straight game. Edmonton has scored first in each game this series and has scored at two or more goals in the first period in three of the four games.
“We’ve been giving up the first goal in every game,” captain Mark Stone said. “We have to find a way to get a better start.”
Edmonton scored their fourth goal of the game with 5:15 to go in the second period to take a commanding 4-0 lead into the final period of play.
“You chalk it up to two really good hockey teams that have outplayed one or the other,” defenseman Alec Martinez said.
The third period was where the Golden Knights grabbed their lone goal of the game when center Nicolas Roy scored his first goal of the playoffs with just over 14 minutes to go in regulation.
In the closing minutes of the game, tempers started to flare as there were a multitude of fights that broke out on the ice. One of these fights included defenseman Nicolas Hague and Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse who exchanged a series of right hand punches to the head.
Both were sent to their respective locker rooms for the remainder of the game.
Fellow Golden Knights defenseman Alex Pietrangelo was also sent to the dressing room early after a hard slash on center Leon Draisaitl with less than two minutes to go in regulation.
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