EDMONTON — The Vegas Golden Knights have battled back from the brink.
Reilly Smith scored his second goal of the game with just 0.4 seconds left in regulation time as the Golden Knights came from behind to defeat the Edmonton Oilers 4-3 on Saturday to cut their deficit in half in the second-round playoff series.
Smith took a hopeful shot on goal that would have gone wide but deflected off the stick of Oiler Leon Draisaitl and into the net.
“Sometimes you just hope for the best and that one seemed to work out, thankfully I had enough time,” Smith said.
It was officially the third latest third-period winning goal to be scored in playoff history, at least since they added decimals to the final minute. Nazem Kadri had one with 0.1 seconds for Colorado in 2020 and Jussi Jokinen scored with 0.2 remaining for Carolina in 2009.
“That was one of the craziest things I’ve ever seen in a hockey game, but obviously it was a great play,” said Vegas defenceman Nicolas Hague. “I’m pretty sure I was getting ready for overtime.
"The patience there was unbelievable and thank God it was good, because we were celebrating.”
Nicolas Roy and William Karlsson also scored for the Golden Knights, who lost the first two games of the series at home and were in desperation mode.
"We know we got good character in the room,” said Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy. “Obviously we have to correct some of the things how we started. You don’t want to put yourself in that hole, but there’s a lot of hockey left, we know we have the ability to come back, we can score goals.”
Adin Hill made 17 stops in the Vegas net to record the win.
Corey Perry had a pair of goals and Connor McDavid also scored for the Oilers.
“It’s probably more deflating losing the way we did, not getting to overtime,” Perry said. “It’s happened twice to us in these playoffs. You use it as motivation.
“We didn’t have our best stuff tonight. We can look around the room and everybody will say the same thing. We had that opportunity, and we know that we can be a lot better."
Edmonton returned to Stuart Skinner in net after Calvin Pickard was unable to play due to an injury likely suffered in the third period of Game 2 when the Knights' Tomas Hertl landed on him in the crease.
Skinner made 20 saves to drop to 0-3 in post-season play.
Edmonton started the scoring 7:19 into the first period as McDavid dropped a pass back to a trailing Perry and the 39-year-old forward beat Hill glove-side.
Perry made his presence known again four minutes later, tipping home his second goal of the game and fifth of the series on an Evan Bouchard point shot as the Oilers scored their first power-play goal of the series.
The Golden Knights got one back with just under five minutes to play in the opening frame as a bad bounce on a rebound came to Roy in front and he was able to chip it over Skinner and in for his second of the playoffs.
Vegas tied the contest 54 seconds later as Smith snuck through a pair of defenders and sent a backhand shot past Skinner, also his second.
Golden Knights star forward Mark Stone left the game late in the first with an undisclosed injury and did not return.
Vegas took a 3-2 lead with just under three minutes to play in the second period as Edmonton got caught on a change and Karlsson took a return pass from Noah Hanifin and scored his third.
The Oilers evened it up with just 3:02 to play in the third period as McDavid spun out of the corner and then managed to bank it in off the heel of defender Brayden McNabb and into the net for his third, making it appear the game was heading to overtime.
“We’re still up by one (game), so it’s our job to show up again the next night and play our hardest and try to make this thing 3-1," Skinner said.
“We’ve got to stick to our process and keep doing what we’re doing. Play well in all areas of the ice, and if we do that we give ourselves the best chance.”
UP NEXT
Game 4 takes place on Monday in Edmonton.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 10, 2025.
Shane Jones, The Canadian Press
