LAS VEGAS (AP) — The Oilers are about a lot more than Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, something the Golden Knights learned the hard way.
For Edmonton to get through to the Western Conference final for the second year in a row, it took a goalie who was benched earlier in these NHL playoffs and a forward who wasn’t in the lineup until Monday.
Kasperi Kapanen scored on a scramble in front of the net at 7:14 of overtime, and the Oilers beat Vegas 1-0 in Game 5 on Wednesday night to advance out of the second round.
“Obviously, we win games with Leon and Connor leading the way,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said. “That’s an absolute given. We won some games where our goalie outperformed their goalie. Then there’s games where our depth guys came through and scored big goals. Hopefully, we’re only halfway through this, but we’re going to need contributions from everybody.”
The Oilers, who last season made it all the way to the Stanley Cup Final before losing in seven games to Florida, will play Dallas or Winnipeg in the next round. The Stars, who lead 3-1, will go for the series win Thursday night.
Kapanen’s goal backed up another shutout performance from goalie Stuart Skinner, who made 24 saves and drew several chants of “Stu! Stu!” from Oilers fans in the crowd. Skinner, who was benched two games into the playoffs, also blanked the Golden Knights in Game 4. This was his third start in a row in replacing the injured Calvin Pickard.
And Kapanen was a spectator the first nine games of the playoffs before finally getting his chance in Game 4. Given the other players on the roster, Kapanen said he understood why he was initially left out.
“The team was playing really well, so we weren't changing with the lineup, which is understandable," Kapanen said. “The most important thing is the team winning and now us advancing. I knew eventually I'd probably get a chance. Just being patient and being ready.”
Adin Hill made 29 saves for Vegas, which is out of the playoffs by the midway point for the second year in a row. The Golden Knights, who won the Stanley Cup two seasons ago, came into the playoffs as the Pacific Division champion and with the second-best record in the Western Conference.
“Any time you have a good team, you feel like you didn't finish what you set out to do,” Golden Knights defenseman Alex Pietrangelo said. “We've got a hell of a team. It's disappointing. It's a hard league to win. We knew that going in.”
Both teams also were involved in the two most recent scoreless playoff games to reach overtime. The Oilers lost to Winnipeg on May 21, 2021, five days after the Golden Knights were defeated by Minnesota.
Edmonton’s only 1-0 overtime playoff victory occurred in 1997 over the Dallas. Vegas has yet to win a postseason game by that score in OT.
The Golden Knights played without captain Mark Stone because of an upper-body injury that caused him to miss most of Game 3 on Saturday. He played in Game 4 on Monday, but was far from at full health.
Neither team scored through the first two periods, and prime scoring chances were at a premium. There were only five high-danger chances, according to Natural Stat Trick, and the Golden Knights had four of them.
But each team had a grade-A chance early in the third period. Vegas’ Brett Howden whiffed on a tap-in after taking a fantastic pass from Jack Eichel, and shortly after Draistaitl failed to convert on a breakaway. McDavid had a chance on a 2-on-1 to end the game in regulation but was denied by Hill with 1:06 left.
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AP NHL playoffs: https://apnews.com/hub/stanley-cup and https://apnews.com/hub/nhl
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