Oilers advance to Western Conference Final with 1-0 OT win over Golden Knights in Game 5: Takeaways

Yahoo

3 days ago

The Edmonton Oilers are on their way to the Western Conference Final for the second straight year, thanks to a pair of unlikely heroes.
Kasperi Kapanen, playing just his second playoff game this postseason, jammed in the series-winning goal 7:19 into overtime to give the Oilers a 1-0 win over the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena on Wednesday night in Game 5 of their second-round series.
Advertisement
The son of former NHL forward Sami Kapanen was a postseason spectator until he dressed for Game 4 on Monday. He became an instant Oilers hero in his second playoff game by nudging the puck over the goal line with Vegas goaltender Adin Hill on his back in the crease. It was Kapanen's first postseason goal since he scored for the Pittsburgh Penguins, his first NHL team, in their opening game of the 2021 playoffs against the New York Islanders.
'I don't think there's a lot to it,' Kapanen said. 'I missed it a couple times. Just trying to stay with it. Luckily, it went in. That pretty much summed up the whole game today. There weren't too many Grade-A chances, and I'm just happy with it.'
Kapanen's goal made a winner of the other unlikely hero — goaltender Stuart Skinner. He earned his second straight win, both by shutout, after losing his first three postseason starts this season. Calvin Pickard replaced Skinner after Skinner was shelled by the Los Angeles Kings while losing Games 1 and 2 of the first round. Pickard won six straight starts, and Skinner only got the net back because he was injured in Game 2 against Vegas.
Advertisement
Skinner took the loss in Game 3 when Vegas' Reilly Smith scored a last-second goal for a 4-3 win, but he was perfect in Edmonton's 3-0 win in Game 4 and flawless again in Game 5.
It was obvious from the opening face-off that there wasn't going to be much offense on this night.
Neither team did much of anything in the first period. The shots were 1-1 through the first 8:30 and ended 8-5 for the Oilers. Edmonton had a 4-1 lead in scoring chances (2-1 at 5-on-5) and had the lone high-danger opportunity (also at 5-on-5), according to Natural Stat Trick.
The second period was more of the same, with good scoring chances few and far between. Edmonton had 2:56 of power-play time, but the Golden Knights had the only three high-danger chances, including a shot by William Karlsson that beat Skinner but rang the post.
Advertisement
The result was the first game in this year's playoffs to be scoreless through two periods. It stayed that way through the next 20 minutes as well, thanks to some sensational goaltending at both ends.
Hill made the biggest save of the game to that point early in the period when he stopped Leon Draisaitl, the regular-season leader with 51 goals, on a breakaway, then denied him soon after on a backhander off a 2-on-1 break. He also stopped Connor McDavid on another 2-on-1 with 1:06 remaining after the Golden Knights had held No. 97 without a shot on goal for nearly 59 minutes.
Through three periods, the Oilers outshot the Golden Knights 24-22, though Vegas had an 8-4 edge in high-danger chances at 5-on-5 and 8-5 overall.
Advertisement
Related: Panthers impose will, demolish Maple Leafs 6-1 in pivotal Game 5: takeaways
3 takeaways after Edmonton Oilers' 1-0 OT win against Vegas Golden Knights in Game 5
1. Oilers back to final four
It's been a long time since Edmonton has advanced to the conference final in back-to-back seasons. In fact, you have to go back to the end of the dynasty years – 1990 through 1992, when they did it in three straight years, winning in 1990 on the way to the franchise's fifth Stanley Cup championship in seven years before losing to the Minnesota North Stars in 1991 and the Chicago Blackhawks in 1992.
This is the third time in four years the Oilers have gotten this far – they were swept by the Colorado Avalanche in 2022 and knocked off the Dallas Stars in six games last year before losing the Stanley Cup Final to the Florida Panthers in seven games.
They could wind up with a rematch against the Stars, who own a 3-1 lead against the Winnipeg Jets in the other Western Conference Second Round series. The Stars will try to eliminate the Presidents' Trophy-winning Jets by winning Game 5 in Winnipeg on Thursday.
Advertisement
'We've been getting better and better at that every single game, we really believe that,' Skinner said. 'It's been a process for us to get to where we are today, and I truly believe we took another step even tonight. It shows a lot of character in the room.'
Related: NHL Power Rankings 2024-25: Updated For Round 2 of Stanley Cup Playoffs
2. McDavid, Draisaitl shut down, Oilers win anyway
If there's a difference between last year's team and this one, it's that the Oilers are getting more scoring from players not named McDavid and Draisaitl – and the kind of goaltending they needed to win tight games.
Advertisement
The Oilers scored 16 goals in the five games. McDavid had one – a bad-angled shot that went into the net off Vegas defenseman Brayden McNabb in Game 3. Draisaitl scored in Game 1 and had the OT winner in Game 2, but didn't score again.
Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images
Instead, Edmonton got two-goal performances from Corey Perry in Game 3 and Adam Henrique in Game 4 before Kapanen's series-winner in Game 5.
The Oilers also benefitted from Skinner's revival. He stopped all 47 shots he faced in Games 4 and 5.
'He came up big the last two nights,' Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said. 'We needed them, especially as the game wore on in the third period. A lot more saves were needed. But not only making the saves but looking confident. If anyone needed to feel good about their game and have a little reward, he definitely deserved it.'
3. Golden Knights get nothing from their top guns
Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images
To see why the Golden Knights are going home, just take a look at how Vegas' top five regular-season goal-scorers failed to come through against the Oilers. Pavel Dorofeyev (35), Tomas Hertl (32), Jack Eichel (29), Ivan Barbashev (23) and Brett Howden (23) did not score a single goal in the series.
Advertisement
Yes, Dorofeyev missed two games with injuries and Eichel had five assists and played terrific two-way hockey. But you can't win without putting the puck in the net, and Vegas did that just 10 times in five games – not at all in the last two.
The effort was there, according to coach Bruce Cassidy, but the results were not.
'I'm super proud of the guys. When they came out, they were committed to playing the right way. They wanted to win,' Cassidy said. 'Sometimes you've got to walk away and say, 'You know, we didn't blow it.' We needed to be better in certain parts of the game. … As the game went on, we looked better and better, and I thought, 'Hey, we're going to get this one. We just need a break to get the first goal.''