EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) - Very few teams can boast of a winning record against the Vegas Golden Knights this season. The Edmonton Oilers are one.
Connor McDavid had three assists to push his NHL-leading points total to 106 and help Edmonton beat Vegas 4-3 on Thursday night, improving to 3-1 against the Pacific Division winners.
“Obviously to come from behind was nice, especially on a team like that which has been so good,” McDavid said. “To win the season series 3-1, it’s a little feather in our cap.”
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Matt Benning, Mike Cammalleri and Ty Rattie scored for the Oilers. They snapped a five-game losing skid.
“It is a little bit gratifying knowing you can play with some of those top teams, but obviously we didn’t play our top game enough this year to put ourselves where we want to be right now,” said Oilers goalie Cam Talbot, who made 30 saves to collect his 30th win of the season. “It is bittersweet getting a big win against a team like that which is in first place in your division, but after Saturday they keep playing and we don’t.”
Brayden McNabb, Brandon Pirri and Oscar Lindberg replied for the Pacific Division-leading Golden Knights. They had won three in a row.
“We’ve been pretty good as of late,” McNabb said. “We’ve had a couple of stretches where we’ve had breakdowns, but that’s hockey. It happened, we have to keep building we have one more left and we’ll keep building for Game 1 of the playoffs.”
Edmonton opened the scoring seven minutes into the opening period. McDavid started a three-way passing play that culminated in Nugent-Hopkins scoring his 23rd before goalie Malcolm Subban could get across the crease.
The Knights tied it two minutes into the second period when McNabb took the puck at the point off a faceoff before dangling through traffic and beating Talbot.
Vegas took the lead three minutes later on Pirri’s goal.
Benning’s shot from the slot went in after Subban got a piece of it to tie it at 2.
Edmonton went ahead 3-2 midway through the third on the power play as McDavid poked a puck away from a defender behind the net out front to Cammalleri, who notched his seventh.
McDavid picked up a third assist three minutes later, feeding the puck to Rattie picked the top corner for his fifth goal in 13 games with Edmonton. Vegas got one back with five minutes to play in the third frame as Lindberg was left alone in the slot and beat Talbot.
Notes: Defenseman Zack Whitecloud made his NHL debut for Vegas. The Brandon, Manitoba, product signed as a free agent out of Bemidji State on March 8. … Defenseman Keegan Lowe, son of former Oilers star Kevin Lowe, made his Oilers debut.
UP NEXT
Golden Knights: At Calgary on Saturday in regular-season finale.
Oilers: Host Vancouver on Saturday in regular-season finale.
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