Vegas rebounds to take 2-1 series lead over Edmonton

After being defeated 5-1 in Game 2, the Vegas Golden Knights returned the favor in Monday’s game three when they went into Rogers Place and defeated the Edmonton Oilers, 5-1.

Vegas takes a 2-1 series lead with the win.

“We had the puck below their goal line a lot,” head coach Bruce Cassidy said. “We feel that if we can have it there and we’re moving our feet, we can generate and it showed tonight. It worked out for us. Doesn’t mean it’s going to every night but it’s an area we feel like worked for us for about half of the first game and a lot tonight.”

Game 4 of this series is scheduled to take place on Wednesday, May 10 from Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. and can be seen on ESPN nationwide. This will be the last game in Edmonton before the series shifts back to Las Vegas for Game 5 of this best-of-seven series.

Vegas goaltender Laurent Brossoit went down with an injury with just over eight minutes remaining in the first period. He would not return to the game. Backup Adin Hill assumed the goaltending duties in place of Brossoit.

“I saw it earlier this year when it happened to [goaltender Logan Thompson],” Hill said. “It just sucks to see your teammate go down like that. LB is a great guy and a great goalie so it’s tough to see that but you’ve got to flip the switch and we’ve got a hockey game to play.”

Hill finished the game saving all 25 shots he faced for a perfect save percentage of 1.000. This is back-to-back games where Hill has entered the game in relief of Brossoit. In the two games that Hill has appeared in during this series, he has saved all 29 shots he’s faced.

“We’ve been through a lot with goaltenders all year,” Cassidy said. “I think we’ll keep trying to play the same no matter who’s in there and that’s what we did tonight. I thought they played the right way to allow him to get a feel for the game and it worked out well for us in the end.”

Hill’s last regular season start was March 7 versus the Florida Panthers when he suffered a 2-1 loss.

The first period started as each of the first periods in this series, Edmonton lit the lamp first. Left-winger Warren Foegele scored his first playoff goal this year just 2:45 into the game to give the Oilers the early 1-0 lead.

Foegele’s goal was countered by back-to-back goals from center Jonathan Marchessault to put Vegas ahead 2-1 heading into the second period. The first of Marchessault’s goals came two minutes after Foegele’s goal and the other goal came with 51 seconds remaining in the opening period.

This is Marchessault’s fifth multi-goal playoff game of his career while these were his first and second goals of this year’s playoffs.

“We didn’t sit back,” Marchessault said. “We just kept pressuring them. We got a couple of turnovers on their forecheck and when we can put the pucks behind their defense, that’s when we can get a little mojo. When their defense backs up more and we can make plays off the rush, it’s one of those recipes that is good for our team.”

Vegas continued their offensive explosion in the second period as they lit the lamp three more times by the end of the second period and took a commanding 5-1 lead into the final 20 minutes of play.

Defenseman Zach Whitecloud scored his first playoff goal this season which was also the first goal scored by a VGK defenseman in this year’s playoffs. Whitecloud’s goal came with 12:35 to go in the second and at the time, extended the Vegas lead out to 3-1.

“I think we just played a consistent game from start to finish,” Whitecloud said. “We stuck to our strengths, played the right way, and stuck together out there so we played a good game tonight.”

A pair of centers in Jack Eichel and Chandler Stephenson scored the other two goals of the second. It was Eichel’s fifth playoff goal this season and it was Stephenson’s sixth playoff goal this season to go with his 11th career playoff goal.

“I thought we were doing a good job of getting back on top of them early in the game and minimizing their transition which led to some offense for us so it’s good to see,” Eichel said.

Eichel also recorded his third point of the evening on this goal as he assisted on each of the earlier Marchessault goals. It was Eichel’s second three-point game this postseason.

There was no scoring on either side in the third period as the Golden Knights held on to their 5-1 victory to claim the series lead.