Marchessault has hat trick as Knights knock out Oilers

*Photo from The Athletic*

Vegas wins series 4-2

   It was one player who did them in. Reilly Smith had a goal and an assist, Jonathan Marchessault had a hat trick, and the Vegas Golden Knights defeated the Edmonton Oilers 5-2 on Sunday night in Edmonton.

   The Golden Knights clinched the series with the win, securing a spot in the western conference finals. It was Marchessault who led Vegas to the win, recording a natural hat trick. Smith had a goal and an assist to go with a two assist game from Ivan Barbashev.

   Marchessault said of the series win that "We're definitely going to enjoy it tonight, but we're just halfway done. Every night everybody out here is just trying to play the right way and sometimes we get rewarded. One night, it's one guy. One night, it's another one. And that's the mentality we have this year, just next man in and keep it going."

   Smith started the scoring, making it 1-0 Golden Knights just 24 seconds into the game, scoring unassisted. 31 seconds later, Connor McDavid scored for the Oilers to tie the score 1-1 just 55 seconds into the game. Warren Foegele scored 2:43 into the game to put the Oilers ahead 2-1 with Derek Ryan and Ryan McLeod assisting.

   Marchessault tied the game for Vegas 4:26 into the second period, assisted by Barbashev and Shea Theodore. Barbashev and Alec Martinez then assisted on Marchessault's second goal of the game. Marchessault then capped the hat trick with 1:24 left in the second. William Karlsson scored the only goal of the 3rd period to make it a 5-2 final.

   Getting the start in goal for Vegas was Adin Hill, having another strong performance between the pipes. Hill stopped 38 of the 40 shots he was faced with by the Oilers, giving him a .950 save percentage in the win.

   Vegas center Jack Eichel said of Hill that "He was awesome. I can't give Hilly enough credit, obviously. LB goes down early in the series, and he steps in ready to rock and he played fantastic for us. You need your goalie to be good, and I can't say enough good things about him."

   It was Stuart Skinner in goal for the Oilers as their season came to an end at home. Skinner turned aside 13 out of the 17 shots he saw, which was good for a .765 save percentage. Jack Campbell entered for the 3rd period and made 4 saves.

   Edmonton head coach Jay Woodcroft said that "Obviously our group is very disappointed for coming up short of our goal, which was to push this series to seven games. The effort was there from our players, they pushed until the very end and they tried to find the equalizers. In the end, it didn't turn our way, but I can't fault the effort from our players, but there were some points in our game where we felt we could have been better."

   Up next, the Golden Knights await the winner of the series between the Seatle Kraken and Dallas Stars in the western conference finals. The Oilers enter the offseason with a cap crunch and questions to answer after an early exit.