VGK’s late comeback attempt falls short in OT, trail 0-2 in Edmonton series

The Vegas Golden Knights scored two late goals to force overtime, but lost in the extra period. The team has now dropped back-to-back home games in this second round series.

The Golden Knights lost to the Edmonton Oilers, 5-4, in overtime on Thursday, May 8, at the T-Mobile Arena.

“We’ve always said we want to get better as the series goes on,” head coach Bruce Cassidy said. “We’ve got to improve on today if we expect to get back into it.”

The Knights now trail the Oilers 0-2 in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

VGK will try to find their footing against Edmonton on the road in Canada for Game 3 on Saturday, May 10. Puck drop is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Rogers Place.

With 15 minutes left in regulation, the Golden Knights found themselves down by two goals and had to find their second wind to keep their chances of winning alive. While on the power play, left-wing Victor Olofsson scored off assists from center Jack Eichel and captain Mark Stone.

Seven minutes later, Vegas tied the game when defenseman Alex Pietrangelo found the back of the net with help from Olofsson and defenseman Noah Hanifin.

Hanifin’s assist on the game-tying goal was his third assist of the postseason.

Just like that, it was a new game and the Knights had taken the momentum to send the game into overtime.

Unfortunately for the VGK, it appeared to believe a tripping call was missed in the extra period that would’ve awarded the team a power play opportunity.

Defenseman Brayden McNabb went to the locker room after he seemed to get tripped and smacked into the boards by Oilers’ left-wing Viktor Arvidsson.

“Listen, [referee] Gord Dwyer is looking at it,” Cassidy said. “He blew it. He missed the call. I don’t know what else to say. It’s a can-opener trip. It’s a dangerous play. It’s all of those things, but it didn’t get called so you have to keep playing.”

Then to make matters worse, Edmonton’s star duo of Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid connected to score the game-winner past Vegas goalie Adin Hill.

Game 2 marked six straight comeback wins in these playoffs for the Oilers, which is an NHL record.

It was another tough day at the office for Hill, who struggled at times against Edmonton’s stars. By the final buzzer, he wrapped up the game with 32 saves on 37 shots on goal for a .865 save percentage. He is now 4-3-1 when on the ice in this postseason.

The 18,415 people in attendance at The Fortress had to watch Vegas lose another game this postseason after taking the lead into the first intermission.

The Knights got on the board first in the opening period, when Olofsson lit the lamp off assists from Stone and Eichel while on the power play.

The game-opening goal was Olofsson’s first career playoff goal. He was arguably the best player on the ice for VGK with his two goals and one assist performance, to give him four total points in these playoffs.

Stone also had a multi-point performance with his two assists, which increased his postseason total to four. He is also currently on a five-game point streak.

“We can’t get down,” Stone said. “You’ve got to go to Edmonton tomorrow, get ready for Saturday night’s game, and put your best foot forward and get a win.”

VGK then allowed three straight goals before getting back into the game late in the second period, when center William Karlsson scored with help from Eichel and Pietrangelo. Karlsson’s goal was his second of this postseason.

In addition, Eichel became the fourth quickest player in NHL history to reach 40 points in his playoff career at 37 games. He finished Tuesday’s game with three assists and is also on a five-game point streak.

The Golden Knights’ 42-game playoff winning streak when scoring at least three goals has ended after Tuesday night. It was the second-longest streak of that nature in NHL history, only trailing the Montreal Canadiens streak from 1945-1957.

Vegas now enters Game 3 trailing 0-2, but they have rallied from that series deficit before. In 2021, they came back to defeat the Colorado Avalanche, but they started that series on the road.

In their eight-year franchise history, the Knights have never been swept, but they have been eliminated in five games twice. One of those times was in the 2018 Stanley Cup Finals, when they lost to the Washington Capitals.

“This is far from over,” Olofsson said.