Oilers drop Game 1 to Golden Knights despite Draisaitl’s 4 goals
The Vegas Golden Knights didn’t necessarily have more answers for Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl in Game 1 than the Los Angeles Kings did in the first round. However, the Golden Knights otherwise dominated the opening contest to such an extreme that they convincingly won 6-4 and overcame an incredible four-goal effort from Draisaitl.
You’d think the team that allowed Draisaitl to score four goals would be the one needing to go back to the drawing board. Instead, it’s Edmonton that must search for answers (and swallow the regret of losing a game where its biggest stars gave them so much).
Another history-making night for Draisaitl
About four minutes into the first period, the Oilers scored a 1-0 goal in the way you might be able to dream up exactly in your head. McDavid kept creating room, then sent a tremendous and quick cross-seam pass to Draisaitl.
With that, Draisaitl made personal history, as eight playoff goals set a new career-high. Rather than settling for that, he’d do much more. One evening after Joe Pavelski’s historic four-goal night in a losing effort, Draisaitl managed four goals of his own for Edmonton in its Game 1. It was the first four-goal playoff game for an Oilers player since Jari Kurri did it in 1987.
After Draisaitl’s 1-0 goal, the Golden Knights rattled off three of their own, but his second goal in the closing seconds of the first period shrunk Vegas’s lead to 3-2, giving Edmonton hope amid overall frustration. It was also awfully cheeky.
When Draisaitl made it a hat trick, the game was suddenly — and briefly — tied 3-3 in the third period.
If you want an idea about how quickly Vegas countered Edmonton’s pushes, consider that Draisaitl’s fourth goal (in the same period as his hat trick) merely reduced another Vegas lead to 5-4. Draisaitl’s fourth goal looked quite a bit like his first of Game 1, coming off another great cross-seam McDavid helper.
Stunning stuff, but not enough.
