That was a gutsy win.
On Tuesday evening, the Edmonton Oilers started their four-game road trip by taking on the Pacific Division-leading Vegas Golden Knights in Sin City. Thankfully, the Oilers won their second consecutive game, defeating the 2023 Stanley Cup Champions 3-2, even with Connor McDavid, Mattias Ekholm, Stuart Skinner, and a handful of others. Let’s take a look at what happened in this game. Just over four and a half minutes into the game, Leon Draisaitl made a neutral zone turnover. On the transition play, Draisaitl’s backcheck was less than ideal, allowing the trailing Nic Roy to rip it past Calvin Pickard in the slot.
Very early in the second period, 19 seconds in, Jake Walman scored his first as an Oiler, blasting it past Adin Hill’s glove to tie the game up from there. Like Evan Bouchard, Walman has a tremendous slapshot.
With just under four minutes left in the period and on a 5-on-3, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins made a terrific pass to Draisaitl, who blasted it by Hill for the 2-1 lead. That wasn’t all though!
Even later in the period, with about 100 seconds left, Adam Henrique forced a turnover in the offensive zone. The puck found its way to Viktor Arvidsson, who was initially stopped, but banged it home for his second goal in as many games.
The Golden Knights got to within one 2:35 into the final period, as Pavel Dorofeyev’s shot from the point was seeing eye, beating Pickard low and to Pickard’s right. That’s all they’d get, though.
Takeaways…
Viktor Arvidsson is quietly starting to look like the player the Oilers signed in the off-season. Through his first 47 games, he scored seven goals and 19 points. Over his last 12 games, he has five goals. He and Vasily Podkolzin (who had an assist in this game) are effective wingers for Leon Draisaitl. Speaking of Draisaitl, the German scored his 52nd goal of the season on a beautiful one-timer, giving the Oilers a 2-1 lead. It’s impossible to say a player has won an award with games remaining on the schedule, but the likelihood he blows his 10-goal lead on William Nylander is next to impossible. Give him the Hart, too.
Jake Walman picked up his first goal as an Oiler in the game, showing off his hard slapper and beating the Golden Knights’ netminder. More importantly, he was on the ice during the Golden Knights’ push. The Oilers clearly trust him to close out a close game.
Calvin Pickard had a solid game, saving 20 of 22 shots for a .909 save percentage. He had a big first period, stopping nine of ten shots and didn’t have much of a chance to stop either shot in the game. Moreover, he made a massive save late in the third period during the Golden Knights’ push.
One notable issue for the Oilers over the past two games is forwards picking up trailers on rush chances. Both goals against the Calgary Flames on Saturday were a result of this, as was the first goal on Tuesday. It’s something that needs to be cleaned up before the playoffs start.
Up next, the Oilers head to the Bay Area to face off against the San Jose Sharks on Thursday at 8:30 PM MT, gross.
Ryley Delaney is a Nation Network writer for Oilersnation, FlamesNation, and Blue Jays Nation. They can be followed on Twitter @Ryley__Delaney.
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