Sleep tight Vegas: Edmonton Oilers turn lights out on Golden Knights
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In the movie Slap Shot, Charlestown Chiefs coach Reggie Dunlop famously paid an ambulance driver to circle the arena and hype the impending violence.
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The Edmonton Oilers could have something similar before Game 5 on Wednesday, only with a hearse.
After how Edmonton dominated Game 4 Monday, and with the Oilers' well-earned reputation for finishing teams off in elimination games, you knew there was a pretty good chance the Vegas Golden Knights would be on a cold, hard slab by the end of the night.
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It took a while; time of death was listed officially as 7:19 of overtime, but Kasperi Kapanen finally buried the game-winner in a 1-0 victory that clinches the series and advances Edmonton to its third Western Conference championship in four years.
The Oilers are now 8-1 over the last four post-seasons when they have a chance to close out a series. The only time they didn't put a team away was in Game 7 of last year's Stanley Cup Final against Florida.
While the first period of Game 4 was back-and-forth, high-intensity chaos, Game 5 was a careful, low-event chess match. That's pretty much what you'd expect from a team that specializes in putting opponents out of their misery and a former Stanley Cup champion that wasn't going down easy.
Scoreless in the first period.
Scoreless in the second period.
Scoreless in the third period.
If anyone wanted an inch of ice, they had to fight for it.
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Globe and Mail
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