Zach Hyman and Leon Draisaitl each tallied a goal and an assist as the Edmonton Oilers defeated the Vegas Golden Knights 5-1 on Wednesday night despite the absence of their star forward, Connor McDavid.
Cody Ceci, Mattias Ekholm, and Dylan Holloway also found the back of the net for Edmonton, while Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Ryan McLeod each contributed two assists. Stuart Skinner made 17 saves for the Oilers, who secured their third consecutive win.
“When you’re missing the best player in the world, you don’t try to replace him,” Hyman said. “Everyone as a group has to step up and play better, and collectively, I thought it was one of our better games of the season. Everyone was on the same page.
“You want to play your best going into the playoffs. Three wins and two of the three were excellent outings for us.”
The Oilers hit 100 points in the standings for the third consecutive season, marking the second time they’ve accomplished this feat in franchise history. They previously achieved this six times in a row from 1981-87.
Edmonton is now 10-0-1 in its last 11 home games, outscoring opponents 54-20 during that stretch.
“You have to take care of your home ice; that is first and foremost,” said Oilers forward Corey Perry. “On the road, it is a different game, but at home, we have put some solid games together lately, and we will have to continue to do that.”
McDavid missed the game due to a lower-body injury but is considered day-to-day. The Oilers’ captain remains at 99 assists for the season, needing just one more to become the fourth player in NHL history to reach 100.
Keegan Kolesar scored the lone goal for the Golden Knights, who have now lost three straight. Adin Hill made 20 saves.
“Right now, our game’s nowhere we need to be, and even if we were to get in it might be a quick bounce for us out of there,” Kolesar said.
The frustration level is high for the defending Stanley Cup champions.
“We’ve got to take care of business, we’re not in the playoffs yet,” Golden Knights forward Jonathan Marchessault said. “We’ve got to start playing like we want to be in it, and we need more than just a couple of guys every night. We need everybody, but we don’t have that right now.”
The Oilers opened the scoring midway through the first period when Ceci hustled in from the point and sent a shot from a bad angle that deflected off the skate of Vegas defenseman Alec Martinez and past Hill for his fourth goal of the season.
Ekholm continued his hot streak with his 11th goal of the season 5:38 into the second period, firing a shot from the right faceoff dot that Hill couldn’t stop. Ekholm leads all NHL defensemen in 5-on-5 points since the All-Star break with 25.
Edmonton made it 3-0 at 8:06 of the second period as Hill made a pad save on a shot by Nugent-Hopkins but couldn’t stop Hyman from scoring his team-leading 53rd of the season on the rebound.
Vegas struggled against Skinner, who stopped Anthony Mantha on a breakaway with six minutes left in the second period.
On a two-man advantage, the Oilers extended their lead to 4-0 at 6:50 of the third period. Nugent-Hopkins found Draisaitl, who scored his 41st of the year with a one-timer.
The Golden Knights broke Skinner’s shutout bid a minute later when Noah Hanifin sent Kolesar in on a short-handed breakaway, and he beat Skinner glove-side for his seventh goal.
Holloway was recalled from Bakersfield of the AHL due to McDavid’s injury, which made a positive impact midway through the third period. Hill left the puck behind his net, and Holloway stole it before scoring his fourth goal of the season on a wraparound.
The Golden Knights were missing key players, including Alex Pietrangelo, Mark Stone, Chandler Stephenson, and Nicolas Roy.
UP NEXT
- Golden Knights: Host Minnesota on Friday night to open a season-ending four-game homestand.
- Oilers: Host Arizona on Friday night in the second of a four-game homestand.