Oilers edge Knights in OT after Connor McDavid hits assists milestone
Evan Bouchard scored 3:10 into overtime and Connor McDavid had a goal and two assists as the Edmonton Oilers defeated the Vegas Golden Knights 4-3 on Thursday night in Las Vegas.
It was the third overtime goal of the season for Bouchard. McDavid won a faceoff from Brett Howden in the right circle and drew it back to Bouchard, who then skated between the top of the circles and rifled a wrist shot past goalie Adin Hill's blocker side for the game-winner.
Matt Savoie and Zach Hyman also scored goals for Edmonton (36-28-9, 81 points), which increased its second-place lead in the Pacific Division to two points over the Golden Knights (32-26-15, 79 points). Bouchard had two points, and Connor Ingram made 26 saves as the Oilers won for the fourth time in six games.
Mark Stone scored twice -- his fourth multi-goal game of the season and the 32nd of his career -- and Ivan Barbashev had a goal and an assist for Vegas. Hill finished with 25 saves for the Golden Knights, who lost for the fifth time in the past six games (1-4-1).
Edmonton took a 1-0 lead at the 11:52 mark of the first period when McDavid drove the net and passed back to Savoie, who fired a wrist shot past Hill's blocker side. On the play, McDavid (785 games) became the third-fastest player in league history to reach 800 assists, trailing only Wayne Gretzky (527 games) and Mario Lemieux (661 games).
Vegas tied it 1-1 early in the second period when Stone backhanded in a rebound inside the far post. McDavid put Oilers back in front at 7:27 of the second, finishing a 3-on-1 break by sending a wrist shot from the right circle past Hill's blocker side.
Stone tied it 2-2 at 14:51 of the second period. He stole the puck away from McDavid at the blue line, drove in and backhanded a shot around Ingram's right skate.
Hyman put Edmonton back in front just 1:51 later, stealing the puck from defenseman Brayden McNabb from behind and then spinning around and roofing a wrist shot past Hill's blocker side.
Vegas tied it again, 3-3, early in third period when Barbashev knocked in a rebound of a Pavel Dorofeyev shot at the end of a 2-on-1 break.
The Golden Knights had a chance to win it with 3:10 left in regulation, but Ingram made a blocker save on Noah Hanifin's point-blank wrist shot.