Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid skates with the puck against Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Alex Pietrangelo during the first period. The Golden Knights won 3-1 on Feb. 6, 2024, in Las Vegas.David Becker/The Associated Press
Chandler Stephenson scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period, Adin Hill stopped 30 shots and the Vegas Golden Knights ended the Edmonton Oilers’ 16-game winning streak with a 3-1 victory on Tuesday night.
Edmonton was looking to tie the 1992-93 Pittsburgh Penguins for the longest NHL win streak of 17 games.
Instead, with the game tied 1-1 after two periods, Stephenson took a pass from Jonathan Marchessault and ripped a shot from the centre of the left circle to beat Edmonton goalie Stuart Skinner blocker side and put the Golden Knights in front by a goal less than two minutes into the final period.
From there, Hill was spectacular in keeping the Oilers at bay while keeping the crowd energized until the final horn.
“I know that they’re hot over there and they had won however many in a row, but I was more focused on just playing our game tonight and trying to get two points,” Hill said. “It’s a big rivalry, and for us to do it with a couple guys that were missing in our lineup is huge.”
Hill, who leads the NHL in goals-against average (1.88) and save percentage (. 938), made the save of the night when he stymied Leon Draisaitl on a backdoor one-timer late in the third period with the Oilers pressing for the equalizer.
Nic Roy and William Karlsson also scored for the Golden Knights.
Skinner, who is now 19-3 in his last 22 starts, made 23 saves.
“Their goalie played well and made some big saves,” said Connor McDavid, who scored Edmonton’s goal. “It’s always a tough game in this building, we were expecting that. Disappointing, but we move on. It’s been a while since we’ve done that and you forget sometimes how bad you hate losing. It’s a good reminder.”
The Oilers, who opened the season 3-9-1 before firing coach Jay Woodcroft on Nov. 12, were just 13-15-1 before their win streak started. Edmonton hadn’t lost a game since Dec. 19 and has improved to 29-16-1.
The Oilers have an NHL-best 26-7-0 record since Kris Knoblauch’s first game as coach on Nov. 13, and have won 24 of their last 27 games to climb into third place in the Pacific Division.
“We’re back in the hunt, and we’re not content by any means,” Oilers defenceman Darnell Nurse said. “I think we worked hard to get ourselves into this position, but we lost tonight to a team in our division that we played a lot over the last couple years. It’s gonna leave a bad taste in our mouths.”
Edmonton wasn’t deterred by committing the first penalty of the game. After Vincent Desharnais’ poke check forced a turnover to spring a 2-on-0 rush, McDavid took a pass from Draisaitl and beat Hill to give the Oilers a 1-0 lead with a short-handed goal.
It was McDavid’s 10th goal and 27th point in the Oilers’ last 17 games.
Vegas tied the game when Roy gathered a rebound from the crease, worked the puck to his backhand, and snapped it past Skinner for his 10th goal of the season.
Karlsson’s empty-net goal with 34 seconds left iced the game for Vegas.
Up next
Oilers: Visit the Anaheim Ducks on Friday.
Golden Knights: Visit the Arizona Coyotes on Thursday.