On The Strip, Jonathan Marchessault scored the first and last goals of the game on Tuesday night. The problem is the visiting Edmonton Oilers outscored the Golden Knights7-2, in between, in a 7-4 win.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had a goal and five points on the night.
“Obviously, offensively our team has been cooking all year. I’m playing with some great players,” Nugent-Hopkins said. “I’m just trying to help out a little more offensively than I did last year. Obviously, when you have team success, individual success follows that sometimes.”
Stuart Skinner made 18 saves in the win.
The Oilers improved to 43-23-9, and moved to within a point of the Los Angeles Kings for second place in the Pacific Division, LA lost to the Calgary Flames, 2-1, on Tuesday.
“I don’t think we’re anywhere near our potential just yet,” Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft said. “We’re working toward that. I saw good signs in our team. … For us to find wins, while we weren’t perfect in either game, I thought there was a lot of good for us to build on. We’re building toward peaking at the right time, which is in about three weeks.”
Vegas dropped to 46-22-6.
“We tried to win by playing their game,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “We tried to make plays that weren’t there. We tried to outscore them. That’s not how to beat them. They’re the best offensive team in the League. We’re not the Edmonton Oilers on offense. We’re good offensively, but we’re not them. We can’t get into that type of game.”
Marchessault scored in the first to give Vegas a 1-0 lead, but Evan Bouchard scored off the power play for a 1-1 tie.
“[Bouchard] has got such an ability to read the play,” Nugent-Hopkins said. “Him just being confident up there (on the power play) goes a long way for our group.”
Nugent-Hopkins then scored for a 2-1 lead to the Oilers.
LA tied it on a shorthanded goal from William Karlsson, but Leon Draisaitl scored off the same power play to push the Oilers back i front, 3-2.
“We gave up a couple there, maybe unnecessarily, but we found a way to come back,” Draisaitl said. “We took the game over from there.”
Michael Amadio‘s marker in the middle frame pulled the Knights back into a tie, 3-3.
Edmonton then reeled off three straight goals to take control of the game.
Darnell Nurse, Evander Kane, and Zach Hyman were the strikers.
Brett Kulak scored in the third to put the game out of reach at 7-3, for the Oilers.
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Jonathan Quick got the start for Vegas, and surrendered six goals and made 28 saves before getting the hook in the second intermission.
Laurent Brossoit made four saves in relief.
“I think we started well in the first period,” Marchessault said. “Obviously, it’s one of those things that … you get in the (penalty) box and give them chances, they’ll start feeling good about their game. It was a tough game for us. I didn’t like our effort.”
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