Jason Franson / The Canadian Press via AP
Vegas Golden Knights’ William Karlsson (71) celebrates a goal against the Edmonton Oilers during the second period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, Dec. 1, 2018, in Edmonton, Alberta.
Saturday, Dec. 1, 2018 | 10:13 p.m.
The Golden Knights came one goal away from finishing their road trip undefeated.
They pulled their goalie with 1:50 to play, and despite some good looks, could not pot the game-winner in falling to the host Edmonton Oilers on Saturday 2-1 at Rogers Place.
William Karlsson scored for the Golden Knights, who saw their five-game winning streak snapped. They finished the road trip 2-1, and improved to 4-2 in their last six road games.
Here are three takeaways from the loss.
Strong in defeat
They may have only scored once, but the Golden Knights did not look like a team at the end of a three-game, week-long road trip. They came out flying, taking seven of the first nine shots on goal in the game and finishing with 32 shots on goal.
The chart below from Natural Stat Trick charts the flow of the game as a function of Corsi, displaying which team had more unblocked shot attempts at 5-on-5. It shows that the beginning and end of the game, typically the parts where tired teams start showing their fatigue, the Golden Knights had control of the puck and were firing shots.
“If we play like that we’ll win some more, but there are some areas to clean up and we’re looking to address that,” forward Max Pacioretty said to AT&T SportsNet. “Crease battles. We’re getting pucks to the net so we need to win those battles down there and they took advantage of that tonight and we want to do better at that.”
Connor McDavid loves playing against the Golden Knights
Last season, the Oilers captain had eight points in four games against Vegas, including two games with three points. He picked up right where he left off this year, scoring in the Nov. 18 meeting against Vegas, and picking up a goal Saturday.
And what a goal it was. McDavid collected a pass off the boards from Oscar Klefbom and danced past Nate Schmidt, then raced around Brayden McNabb and beat Marc-Andre Fleury up top.
He almost did it again a few minutes later, but Fleury got the better of him that time. He had eight shots on goal in the game.
“McDavid was unbelievable,” Pacioretty told AT&T SportsNet. “He just makes a play on that first goal and it gives them some life. We thought we were all over them.”
McDavid will have two more games against Vegas this season when the Oilers visit T-Mobile Area on March 17 and April 1.
Karlsson heating up
It may be too late for him to score 43 times this season, but Karlsson is starting to find the net. Saturday’s goal gave him four games in a row with one. It’s one shy of his career high, which he established early last season.
Karlsson cashed in Saturday by putting himself in the right position. Jonathan Marchessault raced down the wing to enter the zone then threw it at the net. The puck bounced off an Edmonton defender and Karlsson finished to tie the game.
