3 takeaways from Knights’ Game 2 loss: Oilers stars won’t stay silent

Here are three takeaways from the Golden Knights’ 5-4 overtime loss in Game 2 of their second-round series against the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday at T-Mobile Arena:

1. Dangerous duo

The Knights know they have to account for Oilers stars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl if they have any hopes of winning this series. They did a great job for more than 75 minutes Thursday night.

It just wasn’t enough.

McDavid weaved around several defenders before feeding Draisaitl for the game-winning goal with 4:40 left in overtime to put Edmonton up 2-0 in the best-of-seven series. The play came after the Knights did a good job keeping the two quiet most of the evening. That needs to continue if they want to rally and advance.

“It’s 4-4 and I’m thinking their top guys aren’t on the scoresheet, so we need this one to go our way,” Knights coach Bruce Cassidy said. “But it didn’t. They made the play at the end. They don’t need much.”

Things won’t get any easier in Games 3 and 4 in Edmonton, however. The Oilers will have last change and more control of the matchups.

“You saw how on our team anyone can contribute,” Edmonton defenseman Jake Walman said. “Then you saw in the end, the big dogs can take over.”

This defeat could sting a Knights team that found a way to slow down Edmonton’s third-period heroics. The Oilers outscored their opponents 12-1 in the third their last five games entering Thursday. That included outscoring the Knights 3-0 in the third in Game 1 of the series on Tuesday. But it was Edmonton that gave up two goals in the third period Thursday to send the game to overtime.

The Knights came out hot in the extra session but couldn’t finish things. They probably thought they should have been in control of the game much sooner. They led 1-0 after the first period and looked dominant in the second, but goaltender Calvin Pickard stood tall for Edmonton. Some lapses from goaltender Adin Hill in the other net allowed the Oilers to go up 3-1 with 2:43 left in the second period.

“There are positions and areas of the game you have to outplay them and he’s going to have to do that at some point,” Cassidy said of Hill. “That’s the makeup of any series, usually.”

Edmonton came out feeling much better about the performance of Pickard, who has won six straight since taking the starting job from Stuart Skinner.

“Not too often after a game where a goalie lets in four goals that you’re raving about how well he played,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said. “Tonight, the amount of good quality chances we gave up, he stole one for us.”

2. Something special

One encouraging thing the Knights can take out of Game 2 is their special teams.

Right wing Victor Olofsson scored a pair of power-play goals Thursday night on similar-looking plays with the puck coming to him in the right faceoff circle.

Olofsson’s first goal came in the first period when center Jack Eichel found captain Mark Stone by the side of the net. Stone then fed Olofsson for the one-time finish.

Eichel received a pass from Stone before Olofsson’s third-period goal. He then threaded a pass across the ice right to Olofsson to set up the shot that cut the Knights’ deficit to 4-3 just 4:32 into the third.

The team’s penalty kill can also be ecstatic about its effort against Edmonton’s scary power play. It came up particularly big running out a five-minute major on center Nicolas Roy in overtime.

“We had a great kill,” Stone said. “We didn’t give up much and got saves when we needed.”

The Oilers generated just one high-danger scoring chance on the man advantage in regulation, according to the website Natural Stat Trick, despite McDavid and Draisaitl playing 3:30 on the team’s two power plays. Edmonton is now 0-for-5 on the man advantage in the series.

3. Have to stay disciplined

The Knights were reeling after surrendering two goals in a 3:47 span in the second period to fall behind 2-1. They then appeared to catch a break, but squandered the opportunity before it became official.

Edmonton right wing Evander Kane skated into Hill in the crease, which earned him a penalty for goaltender interference. It looked like the Knights were going to get a power play with a chance to tie the game. But defenseman Zach Whitecloud wrestled to Kane to the ground, earning a roughing call.

The teams instead played four-on-four and defenseman Darnell Nurse scored to extend the Oilers’ lead to 3-1.

It was admirable that Whitecloud was trying to protect his goaltender. But his penalty caused a huge swing in the game.

Roy’s cross check in overtime that earned him a major penalty and game misconduct was even more egregious. It was a bad mistake that put the Knights in an awful situation they were fortunate to survive.

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on X.