The Vegas Golden Knights have been a huge success this season as an expansion franchise and Thursday night they reached 80 points in the ladder chase in the Pacific Division.
Vegas has a game in hand on most of their pursuers in the division and are 10 points up on the San Jose Sharks for the division lead.
On Thursday, the Knights improved to 38-15-4 overall and 21-4-2 at home with a 4-1 win over the Edmonton Oilers.
William Karlsson struck for his 30th of the season in the win.
“It feels good to get it over with,” Karlsson said. “I’ve had a couple chances in other games to get it, but 30 is great.”
Ryan Carpenter, Jonathan Marchessault and Erik Haula dded goals in the win as Vegas built a 4-0 lead over a lackluster, over matched Oilers squad.
“They’re one of the top teams in the League for a reason,” Oilers head coach Todd McLellan said. “They played better than we did tonight. They were more opportunistic and the chances they had, especially early in the game down low … that team doesn’t need more than a two- or three-goal lead to shut it down.”
Marc-Andre Fleury made 28 saves in the win.
“It’s nice to beat a team that we lost twice to. It’s rewarding, and most importantly, it’s nice that it’s at home,” Haula said. “We got a couple in a row and now we go try to get the third [in a row] and start building.”
Leon Draisaitl broke up the shutout bid in the third period.
The Oilers, perhaps the biggest disappointment in the NHL, are far down the division and conference ladder chase; they trail any relevant position by 18 points.
“You go down two goals on a team like that, that plays as detailed and as well defensively as that, it’s very difficult to come back,” the Oilers Mark Letestu said. “We’re not playing with enough detail, enough intensity in some of the things to give us success right now.”
[WATCH:Â All Oilers vs. Golden Knights highlights]
Cam Talbot made 24 saves in taking the loss.
“It’s tough to talk about the team and the adjustments we made when I’m someone they trust a lot back there [and] I didn’t have a good enough game,” the Oilers’ Darnell Nurse said after the loss.
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