Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel will forever be connected.
Wether they want to or not. And that is probably not.
But the 2015 NHL draft stuck a headline on any game those two where a part of. And if the Las Vegas Golden Knights didn’t start pumping goals in early and hard before two completely different periods, we would have run with it.
Instead, Mark Stone, “Stoned” the Edmonton Oilers for 16 minutes and 25 seconds, pumping fear and two goals, into an Oilers fan base that dreads game one as much as playing without their big dogs.
You can’t win them all, but they’d just like to win one.
That’s it.
A breadcrumb in the vast sea of potential playoff wins.
So raise a glass and say a prayer to whoever it may be, because for the first time ever, the Knights have lost a playoff game in regulation after being up two goals, per Empty Netters.
And not for the first time ever, the Oilers have dug themselves out of a deficit before stealing a win and this time, a series opener. By now, it’s become a test in perseverance (?), commitment (?), fortitude (?).
“(Patience) is a good way to put it,” added Corey Perry while holding the puck that’ll inevitably end up on his wall. “We where kind of all over the place in the first 10 minutes.”
For example:
“A four minute power play set us back a little bit. But I think after that we found our footing, found our game, started moving the puck, making plays, and then we played well defensively and kept the puck out of our net.”
It sounds overly simple, keeping pucks out of the net, but heading into this game, with as much offensive firepower as both teams have, everything could’ve been matched except who could keep one more puck — or two — safe.
As it always does, it came down to goaltending and if Calvin Pickard’s recent win wasn’t enough, he’ s now 5-0 in consecutive playoff games. The only goaltender in the NHL with such a record.
Sure, he let in two uninterrupted first period goals to set the Oilers back a 0-2, but he denied everything after that en route to a 4-2 comeback win on Tuesday night.
He set the tone for a momentum shift that carried over into a scoreless second, and standard multi-goal third period.
“Getting over that, or I guess the turning point, was probably when we scored that goal,” explained Kris Knoblauch on Perry’s opener for the Oilers. “That gave our bench a little bit of excitement in saying ‘we can do this.’ Throughout the game, (there should be) a lot of credit to our guys for sticking with it.”
“We just needed one to get us going,” agreed Perry.
But was it ever a goal.
Two typically fantastic, almost overlooked plays, by McDavid and Leon Draisaitl to find Perry in his office — the backdoor — and change the momentum before the first period buzzer.
“It was pretty easy for me.”
It should be by now — it was his eighth goal from five feet or less this season, tying him only with Zach Hyman in the NHL. Of course.
So “the worm,” as they say, now two weeks away from 40, has recorded his 57th playoff goal of who knows how many, and pushed his team into at least a split-win away stretch.
But this series already looks more promising then the last.
“This is why you play the game,” remarked Perry. “You think about it as a kid, playing in the Stanley Cup playoffs, and it’s a dream come true every time you get to step on the ice.”
There’s a big lesson somewhere in this playoff win: “Don’t take it for granted.”
Wether that’s goals, comebacks, or even home ice. Because the Oilers, more than anyone, know what a rarity it can be.
They’ve fought back from injury, loses, and doubt, to put together a special team here in Vegas.
“Stool one in their rink and now (we) have a chance to take both,” explained Hyman with the go ahead goal. “We haven’t been in that spot a lot, we’ve always had to fight from behind in a series, but it’s nice to get the first one out of the way early.”
Nice to be leading a series in game one, not game five.
Nice to comeback 0-2. Again.
Nice to have a reprieve from the Oilers’ eternal battle with game ones, hopefully not game twos.
