The Vegas Golden Knights were locked out of their dressing room before the game. They were locked out of the offensive zone after the puck dropped. The Edmonton Oilers had a comfortable 3-0 lead in the first 14 minutes and cruised to 4-1 Game 4 win at Rogers Place Wednesday.
The series is tied 2-2. Game 5 is Friday at T-Mobile Arena. The NHL announced the game will start at 7 p.m. PT.
Golden Knights defenseman Shea Theodore had a nightmare first period. In the first 10 minutes, Theodore took two penalties leading to one Edmonton power-play goal, and Theodore’s turnover near his net immediately became a goal for Edmonton’s Nick Bjugstad. For insult to injury, Shea Theodore was on the ice for the third Edmonton goal later in the first period.
It wasn’t Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl who filled the net for Edmonton. Seven minutes into the game, Bjugstad scored the first goal when he swiped the puck from Theodore behind the Golden Knights’ net and used his long reach for a wraparound goal.
Just 52 seconds later, with Theodore again in the box, Edmonton defenseman Evan Bouchard blistered a slapper high glove side on Golden Knights starting goalie Adin Hill.
Bouchard’s rip from the top of the right circle was yet another Edmonton power-play goal. Shockingly, the Golden Knights killed four of Edmonton’s five power plays. The Oilers’ power play is now below 50%.
Later in the first period, Edmonton defenseman Mattias Ekholm also ripped a top-corner slapshot past Hill.
The Golden Knights had only six shots and two scoring chances in the first period. Edmonton had 11 shots and 11 scoring chances, according to NaturalStatTrick.com.
The game was largely decided in the first period. The violence picked up late in the third.
There will be some fallout Thursday. Late in the game, Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Alex Pietrangelo targeted Draisaitl with a late, hard slash. Pietrangelo received a major penalty and a game misconduct.
A suspension is possible.
Edmonton defenseman Darnell Nurse earned a two-minute instigator for a fight with Nic Hague in the final minute. The instigator penalty in the final five minutes carries a review for suspension as well.
During actual hockey play, the Vegas Golden Knights were skated out of the barn.
They were even less effective at even strength in the second period. They generated just two shots and one scoring chance at 5v5 in the middle 40 minutes.
If the even-strength game isn’t working, the power play must be effective.
However, the Vegas Golden Knights’ power play wasn’t effective, either. The VGK power play was 0-for-4, including a trio of second-period goose eggs.
By the end of the second period, the Edmonton Oilers led the scoring chance race 17-3.
More important for the Oilers, they led 4-0 after 40. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored the backbreaker immediately following back-to-back Golden Knights power plays with a wrister from the slot.
Edmonton brought the heavy, as well. Thundering hits began early in the first period and electrified the Edmonton crowd. The Oilers registered 34 hits in the first 40 minutes.
Nicolas Roy scored his first goal of the 2023 NHL Stanley Cup playoffs earlier in the third period. He absorbed a cross-check by Leon Draisatil, took the puck to the net, and beat Edmonton goalie Stuart Skinner.
Referees called the cross-check, but the goal nullified the power play. Referees did not call a first-period cross-check by Kailer Yamamoto on VGK captain Mark Stone near the net. Yamamoto delivered the stiff cross-check to Stone’s back, and he was slow to get up, leading to an odd-man rush and Edmonton’s first goal. Stone missed the final three months of the regular season with a back injury.
Golden Knights center Chandler Stephenson and Edmonton’s Yamamoto were given 10-minute misconducts without seven minutes remaining. Yamamoto was checked into the Golden Knights bench, and Stephenson grabbed Yamamoto’s stick, and the refs sent a message.
Jonathan Marchessault led all players with six shots on goal. Adin Hill stopped XX
Edmonton finished 1-6 on the power play.
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