Zach Hyman scored from just above the right circle with 3:02 left to put Edmonton ahead for good, and the Oilers rallied yet again this post-season to beat the Vegas Golden Knights 4-2 on Tuesday night in Game 1 of the second-round playoff series.
The Oilers, who came back from 2-0 down, set a National Hockey League record with their fifth consecutive playoff comeback victory.
Vegas, which had just seven shots on goal over the final two periods, lost a playoff game in regulation after leading by at least two goals for the first time. The Golden Knights are 47-4 overall in the post-season with that kind of lead.
Game 2 is Thursday night in Las Vegas.
Leon Draisaitl had a goal and an assist for the Oilers, and Corey Perry and Connor Brown scored the other goals. Evan Bouchard and Connor McDavid each had two assists. McDavid now has four consecutive post-seasons with at least 10 assists for fourth-best in league history. Calvin Pickard was barely tested after the first period and finished with 15 saves.
Mark Stone scored both goals for the Golden Knights to tie Jonathan Marchessault’s franchise record with 36 for his Vegas career. It also extended his goal-scoring streak to three games. Adin Hill made 24 saves.
Both star-studded top lines delivered in the first period, with Stone scoring twice, the first on a double-minor power play. Edmonton’s top unit cut the deficit in half with 3:34 left when Perry deked Hill for an open net with McDavid and Draisaitl getting assists on the play.
Neither team scored in the second period even though the Oilers outshot Vegas 12-1. The Golden Knights had never been held to fewer than two shots on goal in a regulation playoff period.
Edmonton didn’t waste a chance early in the third, tying the score 57 seconds in when Draisaitl backhanded a shot off the boards and off Hill.
Hyman, who earlier in the shift took a stick to the face from Kaedan Korczak, broke the tie in the closing minutes, and Brown sealed the win 1:16 later.
Golden Knights defenceman Alex Pietrangelo did not play because of an illness, allowing Korczak to make his first career post-season start. Vegas also was without Pavel Dorofeyev, who led the team with 35 goals this season, for the second game in a row because of an undisclosed injury. Coach Bruce Cassidy has described him as day to day.