*Photo from the NewsTimes*
When things are tough, the Edmonton Oilers lean on the stars. Leon Draisaitl scored two goals, Klim Kostin scored the game winner, and the Oilers defeated the Vegas Golden Knights with a 4-3 victory on Saturday night in Las Vegas.
The Oilers moved to win number 3 in a row with their latest win, including a 6-3-1 record in their last 10 games. Draisaitl led the way on the scoresheet with his pair of goals, and Mattias Janmark had a goal and an assist to go with a two assist game for Zach Hyman.
Edmonton head coach Jay Woodcroft said of the game that "It was a really competitive, entertaining hockey game. There were some moments we'd like to have back on the defensive side. For the most part, we controlled most of that game. We got contributions from all of our 11 forwards. I thought the seven, in different ways, affected the game tonight. I thought it was a mindset that's going through our group."
Kicking off the scoring early in the game was Janmark, giving the Oilers a 1-0 lead just 45 seconds in, scoring his 4th goal of the season. Draisaitl scored 57 seconds after Janmark to double the lead to 2-0, assisted by Hyman and Connor McDavid. Keegan Kolesar got a goal back for Vegas with 1:14 left in the period, making it 2-1 after one.
Draisaitl got it started again in the second period, making the Oilers lead 3-1 on his second goal of the night. Paul Cotter scored for the Golden Knights to cut the deficit to 3-2 before Kostin scored 18 seconds later, making it a two goal lead again. William Karlsson scored for Vegas to make it 4-3 after two periods, which held throughout the 3rd for an Oilers win.
After the game, Draisaitl said of the win that it was "Really big, having played last night. A team knowing that and aware of that, they're going to jump on us. I thought we handled it very well. It's always easier to play with a lead. To start the year, we never planned on going down early in every game. It just seemed to happen that way. We've been digging lately from the get go."
Getting the start in goal for the Oilers was Jack Campbell, closing out the back to back with a win in net. Campbell turned aside 27 of the 30 shots he faced from Vegas, good for an even .900 save percentage as his record improved to 12-8-1 in 20 starts.
In goal for the Golden Knights was Logan Thompson, who couldn't get a win, dropping his record to 18-11-1 in 30 games. Thompson stopped 33 out of the 37 shots on goal he faced from the Oilers, recording a .892 save percentage in the loss.
Vegas head coach Bruce Cassidy said of the loss that "We will emphasize it more clearly. We might not know the place in the standings of every team, most players don't, but understanding the value of divisional points and coming out ready to play is disappointing. I'll put it on me to make more of an emphasis."
Up next, Vegas gets back in action with a Monday night home showdown, with Thompson expected to start against the Dallas Stars. The Oilers host the Seattle Kraken on Tuesday night, with Stuart Skinner projected to start.
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