Another Edmonton Oilers comeback puts Golden Knights in a stranglehold
If this was a mob movie set in the Vegas desert, the Edmonton Oilers would be lining their trunk with plastic and buying a couple of shovels.
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They haven't quite 'eliminated' the Golden Knights yet, but it wouldn't hurt to get some holes dug.
The Oilers put their second-round series in a death grip Thursday, posting a 5-4 overtime victory to take a 2-0 series lead back to Edmonton for Games 3 and 4.
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On a night when Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl were strangely silent, the captain set up his buddy 15:20 into overtime to silence the crowd at T-Mobile Arena.
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The series is now Edmonton's to lose, but given how they took care of business in Vegas, that doesn't seem very likely. The Oilers are humming right now, riding a six-game winning streak back to Rogers Place and getting clutch performances from everyone in the lineup.
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The Golden Knights threw everything they had at the Oilers in Game 2, but it wasn't enough.
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After trailing 1-0 at the first intermission, the Oilers took charge again in the second period, scoring three-straight goals to put the Vegas on the ropes.
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Edmonton's support players continued rising to the occasion, with Jake Walman and Vasily Podkolzin scoring their first goals of the post-season at 11:31 and 15:18 and Darnell Nurse scoring his second at 17:17 to make it 3-1.
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It's Podkolzin's first goal, but he also picked up an assist on Walman's point shot and now has six points in eight playoff games.
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Vegas wouldn't go away, though.
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When it was 3-1, William Karlsson closed it to 3-2 late in the second period. When Kane made it 4-2 with his third of the playoffs 1:52 into the third period, Victor Olofsson closed it to 4-3 two and a half minutes later.
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Then, with 8:02 remaining, Alex Pietrangelo sifted a point shot through traffic and they went to overtime.
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The Golden Knights came out like Mike Tyson in a first round, but couldn't finish on a handful of glorious chances. Then Nicolas Roy's hopelessly stupid five-minute major for cross-checking Trent Frederic in the face five minutes into overtime changed the game for good.
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