Las Vegas – The oilers are much more than Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, something that the Golden Knights learned in the difficult way.
For Edmonton to reach the final of the West Conference for the second consecutive year, he took a goalkeeper who was banking before in these NHL playoffs and a striker who was not in the alignment until Monday.
Kasperi Kapanen scored in a fight against the network at 7:14 of extra time, and the Oilers beat Vegas 1-0 in game 5 on Wednesday night to advance the second round.
“Obviously, we won games with Leon and Connor leading the way,” said the oilers coach Kris Knoblauch. “That is absolutely given. We won some games in which our goalkeeper surpassed his goalkeeper. Then there are games in which our deep boys arrived and scored great goals. With luck, we are only in the middle of this, but we will need contributions of all.”
The oilers, which last season reached the final of the Stanley Cup before losing in seven games against Florida, will play Dallas or Winnipeg in the next round. The stars, which lead 3-1, will go to the victory of the series on Thursday night.
Kapanen’s goal supported another laundering performance by goalkeeper Stuart Skinner, who made 24 saves and drew several songs of “Stu! Stu!” of oilers fans in the crowd. Skinner, who was banking two games in the playoffs, also blank to the Golden Knights in game 4. This was his third consecutive beginning to replace the injured Calvin Pickard.
And Kapanen was a spectator the first nine playoff games before finally having his chance in game 4. Given the other players on the list, Kapanen said he understood why he initially stayed out.
“The team was playing very well, so we were not changing with the alignment, which is understandable,” Kapanen said. “The most important thing is the team that won and now we advanced. I knew that it would probably have a chance. Just be patient and be ready.”
Adin Hill made 29 salvages for Las Vegas, which is outside the playoffs in Midway Point for the second consecutive year. The Golden Knights, who won the Stanley Cup two seasons
“Every time you have a good team, you feel that you did not finish what you set out to do,” said Golden Knights defense Alex Pietrangelo. “We have an infernal team. It’s disappointing. It’s a hard won league. We knew to enter.”
Both teams were also involved in the two most recent -free playoff games to reach overtime. The Oilers lost to Winnipeg on May 21, 2021, five days after the Golden Knights were defeated by Minnesota.
Edmonton’s only overt 1-0 playoff victory occurred in 1997 over the Dallas. Vegas has not won a postseason game for that score at OT.
The Golden Knights played without Captain Mark Stone due to an injury at the top of the body that made him lose most of game 3 on Saturday. He played in game 4 on Monday, but was far from being full.
None of the teams scored during the first two periods, and Prime score possibilities were a premium. There were only five opportunities for high danger, according to the trick of natural statistics, and the Golden Knights had four of them.
But each team had a degree opportunity at the beginning of the third period. Brett Howden from Las Vegas Olfató a touch after taking a fantastic pass from Jack Eichel, and shortly after Draistait, he could not become a getaway. McDavid had the opportunity for a 2 against 1 to put an end to the game in the regulation, but Hill denied it with 1:06 remaining.
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AP NHL Playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
