Comeback kids do it again as Oilers find a way in Game 2 against Golden Knights

On a day when Robert Francis Prevost took the name Pope Leo XIV, becoming the 266th head of the Catholic Church, it’s only fitting that Leon Draisaitl — Edmonton’s Pope Leo — scored the game-winning goal for the Oilers.

And if anyone watched the 75 minutes and 20 seconds leading up to Thursday night’s overtime, it didn’t look like the Dynamic Duo would find a way onto the scoresheet in what might’ve been their poorest performance of the playoffs so far.

But when there’s a will, there’s a way: capping off a chaotic overtime period that saw the Oilers fail to convert on a five-minute power play and hit two posts, ultimately downing the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 2 5-4.

“When you have elite talent, those game breakers, they just need an opportunity to make that play, and you saw it tonight,” said Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch. “It was set up — Bouchard makes a nice breakout pass, Perry on the wall, and then those two just take off and they ultimately made a heckuva play.

“Not too often they’re quiet for an entire game and don’t show up on the scoresheet. Tonight, when we needed them most, they made a heckuva play there.”

In the end, this game went a lot like the Oilers’ previous five wins, going down early, having to play from behind, nearly squandering leads, and somehow, someway, finding a way to come out on top.

Vegas had much more life in this one than they did Game 1, though the start of it started similarly. While Tuesday it was a double-minor high-sticking penalty that gave the Golden Knights an early lead, Thursday saw back-to-back penalties — the first of which Edmonton was able to kill, the second they couldn’t as Viktor Olofsson opened things up.

But the Oilers kept them there, allowing the fourth line to come up with two huge goals in the second period, and a third from Darnell Nurse, boosting Edmonton’s lead.

The teams traded barbs back and forth, eventually seeing Vegas score two in the final 15 and a half minutes of regulation before the game was sent to extra frames.

It was there that things got, well, crazy. Golden Knights forward Nic Roy took one of the more egregious penalties this scribe has seen, viciosuly — and without warning — cross-checking Trent Frederic in the face, ending his night and springing the Oilers to a five-minute power play. The only problem? They couldn’t convert and as the man advantage ended, Zach Hyman hit the crossbar, only to watch Connor McDavid hit a post of his own minutes later.

It’s easy to look at all that and think the Oilers were running out of chances.

“That’s what you always think, right?” said Draisaitl. “They did a good job on the kill, we didn’t create overly much, and then I think your human nature brain goes to ‘they’re going to throw one on net and it’s going to go in and it’s over.’”

But all it takes is one play.

“We didn’t have much going on,” he added. “Obviously a couple great plays, then it’s all-world. That’s just all McDavid, where it’s tough to really to celebrate my part of the goal.”

Now there’s more than enough to celebrate for these Oilers — at least for a few minutes — as they now get to return home to Edmonton with a 2-0 series lead.