Vegas overcomes Draisaitl’s 4 goals in opener
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Ryan S. Clark, NHL reporter
LAS VEGAS — How the Vegas Golden Knights walked away with a 6-4 win Wednesday night against the Edmonton Oilers in the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs could be a microcosm of what lies ahead.
Everything the Golden Knights sought to accomplish in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals at T-Mobile Arena fit within their overall scheme. But it also came with a sense of latitude, that there could be exceptions.
On Wednesday night, Oilers superstar center Leon Draisaitl was the exception. The 2020 Hart Memorial Trophy winner scored all four of his team’s goals, taking his postseason totals to a league-high 11 goals and 15 points.
But asked whether he took any consolation from his four-goal performance, Draisaitl said simply, “No.”
Draisaitl’s four-goal game came less than 24 hours after veteran Dallas Stars forward Joe Pavelski, who missed five games in the first round while in the concussion protocol, also scored four times in his team’s 5-4 overtime loss Tuesday to the Seattle Kraken. It was only the second time in league history that a player had a four-goal performance on consecutive days in the postseason, according to the NHL.
Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy was far more vocal about Draisaitl’s performance than Draisaitl. Cassidy was breaking down what happened on all four goals before making a statement about Draisaitl that drew laughter.
“Leon Draisaitl with his 11th goal of the playoffs,” Cassidy said. “Does that sound funny to you? Eleven goals. We’re in the first game of the second round. I mean, it’s unbelievable.”
But on the whole, Cassidy and his players sounded mostly pleased with their overall defensive approach.
“I thought we did have defensive success to be quite honest with you,” Cassidy said with a grin. “I didn’t think it was a barrage. They had a real good push in the third where we got on our heels a little bit. We cannot do that against this team. We almost had to go back to playing like we were behind once it got to 5-4. We still made plays, so, that’s what it looked like for me tonight.”
Going back to his time with the Boston Bruins, Cassidy’s defensive tactics are designed to be suppressive. It’s a structure that, when at its peak, has all five skaters actively engaged in the forecheck while constantly skating. From there, it’s about taking that movement and adding other components, whether they be subtle or a bit more pronounced.
Vegas limited Edmonton to three shots on goal early and finished the opening frame with only eight total shots.
“If we have a chance to dictate, we’re going to take it,” said Golden Knights center William Karlsson, who finished with an assist. “I think we did that. We had a great start, and it just continued on. I think overall, we played a pretty good game. I think we were dictating most of the game, and if you can keep it that way, that would be great. I would rather have that than let them dictate the game.”
Draisaitl scored the bookend goals of a five-goal opening period. His first came on the power play, then the Golden Knights scored three straight thanks to Ivan Barbashev, Michael Amadio and captain Mark Stone.
Vegas was 11 seconds away from taking a two-goal lead into intermission before Draisaitl, who was just to the right of goaltender Laurent Brossoit, found enough space to bank the puck off Brossoit’s back to cut the lead to 3-2.
Draisaitl tied the game less than two minutes into the third period with a power-play goal for a unit that finished 2-for-3 on the extra skater advantage.
If Draisaitl scoring seemingly at will has become a familiar sight, so has the number of rapid goals scored within two minutes. Every first-round series had at least two instances in which two goals were scored in quick succession.
That happened again Wednesday night when the Golden Knights took a 5-3 lead when Barbashev scored his second and Chandler Stephenson also scored. The goals were scored 50 second apart.
“I don’t think we adhered to what our game plan was tonight,” Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft said. “I thought we were too loose, and as I said, I thought we made some individual errors that we haven’t seen in a long time.”
Draisaitl scored his fourth to cut the lead to 5-4 before a late empty-net goal from Jack Eichel made it 6-4.
As for the Golden Knights’ defensive approach, the Oilers entered the semifinal round second in the NHL with 34.1 shots per game and had 27 on Wednesday night.
Edmonton also leads the league in high-danger chances per 60 minutes and is fourth in high-danger goals per 60, according to Natural Stat Trick. Vegas held Edmonton to just eight high-danger chances, with seven of them coming in the third period.
“It’s no surprise to anyone that on any given night that either of those guys [Draisaitl or Connor McDavid] — and they got more than just those two guys, and that’s no disrespect to them,” Golden Knights defenseman Zach Whitecloud said. “They’ve got guys up and down the lineup that can contribute in those facets. But as a five-man group and as a team, you have to focus your energy on the things they do well and the personnel they have on the ice at the time. … Four goals, but you got to do your best to try and limit that.”
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Greg Wyshynski
The sea of white in Winnipeg chanted “M-V-P!” in unison during the Jets‘ Game 2 win over the Dallas Stars on Friday night. Goalie Connor Hellebuyck heard and appreciated those chants.
“It means a whole lot. I love this crowd. I love this city,” said Hellebuyck, who stopped 21 shots in Winnipeg’s 4-0 victory that evened their Western Conference semifinal series at 1-1.
It was Hellebuyck’s first playoff shutout since a 1-0 blanking of the Edmonton Oilers in the first round in 2021, and the fourth postseason shutout of his career. Hellebuyck led the NHL with eight shutouts in the regular season, which helped him become a finalist for the Hart Trophy as league MVP and for the Vezina Trophy as the NHL’s top goaltender, an award he won last season and in 2020.
Prior to Friday night, he had not been that same goaltender in the postseason.
Considered by many the best netminder in the world, Hellebuyck was the worst goalie statistically in the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs entering Game 2. He was 4-4 with an .836 save percentage, the lowest for any goalie with at least three postseason games played. He was last in the playoffs through eight games with a minus-9.68 goals saved above expected. He had a 3.75 goals-against average as well, after sporting a GAA of 2.00 and a .925 save percentage in the regular season.
Yet the Jets’ faith in their goaltender never wavered.
“We rely on him. Sometimes too much. But he was incredible tonight,” said defenseman Josh Morrissey, who missed Game 1 against Dallas and most of Game 7 against St. Louis with an injury. “That’s what he does every night for us. He’s an incredible goaltender. He makes very difficult saves look very easy, routinely and often. You could tell he was feeling it tonight. When he’s feeling it like that, it gives the players in front of him a lot of confidence.”
Jets coach Scott Arniel said his goalie was “fantastic” in Game 2.
“Sometimes we take him for granted because he makes the hard look easy, but he had some acrobatic ones tonight,” Arniel said.
That was especially true in the second period. The Jets built a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals by Gabriel Vilardi and Nik Ehlers, whose shot deflected off the skate of Dallas defenseman Esa Lindell. Hellebuyck made nine saves in that opening frame.
“We pushed hard in the second to try and climb back in the game,” said Dallas coach Peter DeBoer. “Hellebuyck made some saves. We get one there, maybe the momentum shifts. But that was the game. He was a good. He was really good. We can always make it more difficult on him, but he was really good.”
After the game, Hellebuyck told Sportsnet that he believed he was back on his game after the shutout win.
“Now it’s locked in. We broke it down to build it back together,” he said. “I like where it’s at. I like where the team’s playing. I’m really excited for the series. It’s been fun.”
Whether the fun continues on the road for Sunday’s Game 3 is anyone’s guess.
Hellebuyck was a disaster in the Jets’ three games in St. Louis, giving up 16 goals on 66 shots (.758 save percentage) and getting pulled in each loss. In his past eight postseason road games, Hellebuyck is 1-7 with a .838 save percentage and a 5.19 goals-against average.
“We’re still playing hockey, and it’s May. That’s fun. It’s the best time of year, because you’ve dialed your game in all year long,” Hellebuyck said.
The Jets said they need to be better in front of their goalie on the road.
“It’s going to be a tough building. They grabbed home ice from us by winning Game 1,” Arniel said. “It’s [about] lessons learned. Take some of the things from that series. We know we have to do a lot of what we did tonight.”
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