Edmonton holds a 2-1 series lead over Vegas heading into Game 4 on Monday night at Rogers Place
The Edmonton Oilers look to answer back in Game 4 and take a 3-1 series lead over the Golden Knights on Monday night at Rogers Place.
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Tony Brar & Bob Stauffer check in ahead of Monday’s Game 4
EDMONTON, AB – No time to dwell on it.
Skate it off and get ready for the next one, because Saturday’s heartbreak won’t matter when the puck is dropped on Monday night at Rogers Place in Game 4 of this Second Round series, when the Oilers will have another chance against the Golden Knights at going two games up on home ice.
“That’s the playoffs,” Darnell Nurse said Sunday morning at Rogers Place. “We move on to the next one. We know we’ve got to be better than in certain situations last night, but with that being said, it’s a big game coming up.”
Goaltender Stuart Skinner will make a second straight start for the Oilers in Game 4 after Head Coach Kris Knoblauch confirmed Sunday morning that netminder Calvin Pickard is still day-to-day due to injury and won’t be able to play on Monday night.
The Oilers hold a 2-1 lead over the Golden Knights and will have to forget quickly about Saturday’s tough defeat at home in Game 3 after winger Reilly Smith scored his second goal of the night with 0.4 seconds remaining in regulation to secure a late 4-3 victory for Vegas.
Kris provides an update on Pickard & more on Sunday at Rogers Place
After Connor McDavid tied the game 3-3 with 3:02 remaining, William Karlsson chased a puck below the goal line in the final seconds against four Oilers before finding Reilly Smith wide open in the slot, getting around Stuart Skinner and throwing his last-ditch attempt into the crease for it to in off the stick of the defending blade of Leon Draisaitl with under a second left in regulation.
“You just have to have a short-term memory,” Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said. “Whatever happened the night before – whether it was a win or a loss – you just have to put that aside and get ready for the next game, because you’re playing the same opponent night after night and their game’s going to be a little bit different.
“So no matter what happens, it’s business the next night.”
After playing with desperation late in the third period, the Oilers didn’t manage the clock as the seconds ticked down to overtime, and a momentary lapse in awareness ended up costing them when Smith wasn’t picked up coming over the blueline.
While Skinner’s decision to challenge the shooter was the right one, Smith knew he had another second to round the netminder and fire it on goal for it to get redirected in with a fraction of a second remaining before time had expired.
“You always want players playing with desperation and putting it all out on the line, and I think that’s what everyone did – forwards, defence and our goaltender,” Knoblauch said. “Unfortunately, there was a little more time on the clock than everyone thought, and everyone is anticipating that shot coming from the slot at that point because of how much time there was left. Unfortunately, that’s not what turned out.”
Darnell talks Sunday about how the Oilers can respond in Game 4
For the Oilers, their mistakes went back as far as Vegas’ first three goals, starting with giving up two tallies in 54 seconds to Nicolas Roy and Reilly Smith after they’d built themselves an early two-goal lead on Corey Perry’s fourth and fifth goals of the playoffs. One of the 39-year-old’s goals came on the power play, which gave the Oilers PPGs in four straight home games dating back to Game 6 of their First Round win over Los Angeles.
After the Golden Knights tied it up, the Oilers got caught on a change on William Karlsson’s go-ahead marker that gave Vegas a 2-0 lead after 40 minutes.
“I think when you look back, it’s a lot of shooting ourselves in the foot, whether it’s from reads or decisions,” Nurse said. “There were a lot of goals that we had control over with the looks that we gave up, so we take control of that, and we’ll take more control of the game itself.”
They know they’re going to have to clean up their game in front of their netminder, who’ll be Stuart Skinner for the second straight game after he 20 saves and a few key ones in the third period that enabled Connor McDavid to notch the equalizer on a lucky bounce off the foot of defenceman Brayden McNabb.
“I think your team game’s gotta be the same no matter who’s behind you, and we have a ton of belief in both guys,” Nurse said. “Stu’s been so good for us for so many years, and he was a big reason why we were able to go on the long playoff run last year. So like I said, we shot ourselves in the foot a little bit too much last night, and he made some big saves to keep us in the game.”
