It’s usually a winning night when you limit the home team to one goal and outshoot them 16-2 in the third period — especially a power team like the Vegas Golden Knights.
But the Edmonton Oilers came up one goal short and made one mistake too many in a 1-0 loss Tuesday at T-Mobile Arena.
In a playoff style test of mettle between two teams with designs on representing the Pacific Division in the Western Conference Final, the Oilers did everything right.
Except score.
An area of their game that’s been lacking all season cost them again as the snake-bitten Oilers couldn’t convert on a single one of 28 shots on Vegas goalie Adin Hill.
“Two good teams, both teams defended well, it could have went either way,” said Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl. “I thought we had enough good looks in the third to tie it up. But their goalie was on.”
The Oilers, currently ranked 18th in the NHL in goals per game, were shut out for the fourth time this season (they also broke a shutout with 27 seconds left in the third period of a 6-1 loss to Columbus, so let’s call it five).
They have too many guys stuck in scoring slumps and it bit them again.
So the Oilers fall to 0-2 against the Knights this season and drop seven points behind them in the standings. It’s also the end of their season-high three-game win streak.
The only goal of the night will haunt them for a while, too.
Draisaitl set up the winner midway through the first period when he tried to deflect a pass with his skate, only to turn it over just inside the offensive blue line. The ensuing two-one-one was the difference in the game.
Goalie Stuart Skinner got caught by surprise on the first Vegas goal but he recovered nicely and made some solid saves to keep it 1-0 on a night the Oilers outshot Vegas 28-16.
Needless to say there wasn’t much room out there — Connor McDavid and Draisaitl didn’t have a shot on net in the first 40 minutes — but the Oilers had every chance to tie it up or go ahead. Evan Bouchard and Connor Brown both missed on great chances from the doorstep to highlight Edmonton’s lack of finish.
“That summarized a lot of our game tonight,” said head coach Kris Knoblauch. “We did a lot of good things, we held them to 16 shots, it was just that final touch, putting it in the net, that’s what we were missing.”
Late hits: The shutout loss meant the end of Vasily Podkolzin’s three-game goal scoring streak as well as a five-game points streak for McDavid and a three-game points streak for Bouchard … There wasn’t a penalty called on either side all game.
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