Koskinen, Oilers hang on to defeat Golden Knights

LAS VEGAS -- Mikko Koskinen made 36 saves for the Edmonton Oilers in a 3-2 victory against the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday.

Kris Russell had six blocked shots to become the NHL all-time leader, and Zach Hyman scored late in the first period for his 200th NHL point for the Oilers (15-5-0), who won for the fourth time in five games.
Russell has 2,003 blocked shots in 890 games, surpassing former Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Brent Seabrook (1,998). The NHL began tracking blocked shots in 2005-06.
"In the history of the game, there's nobody who's blocked more shots than that," Edmonton coach Dave Tippett said. "If everyone knew how much that hurt ... It's incredible."
Chandler Stephenson and Reilly Smith scored for the Golden Knights (12-9-0), who lost for the second time in three games. Robin Lehner made 27 saves.
The Oilers' 15 wins through 20 games are the most they've had since 1983-84 (16-3 with one tie).
Koskinen is tied with four other goalies for the NHL lead with 11 wins (11-2-0). It was his eighth victory in his past nine games.
"Every game is different," Koskinen said. "All that matters is we got the win and the two points."
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins gave Edmonton a 1-0 lead at 17:50 of the first period. Tyson Barrie intercepted a Max Pacioretty pass and set up Nugent-Hopkins on a 2-on-1.

Hyman made it 2-0 with 16 seconds remaining in the first when he scored on a breakaway.
"I loved our start," Vegas coach Peter DeBoer said. "The first 12 minutes of the game we played exactly the way we wanted to play. We forechecked, we were direct, we didn't turn pucks over. The last eight, 10 minutes of that first period, we did some of the things we said we didn't want to do, which was take penalties, put them on the power play, and turn pucks over. It's that simple."
The Oilers outshot the Golden Knights 16-14 in the first period.
"We knew they were pushing," Nugent-Hopkins said. "I thought we did a pretty good job staying solid, not giving up too many high-quality chances. They're a good team over there and they come in waves."
Jesse Puljujarvi extended the lead to 3-0 at 6:39 of the second period on a breakaway off a stretch pass from Evan Bouchard.
"They're an opportunistic team and a team that you can't give that many chances to, so we kind of shot ourselves in the foot with that," Stephenson said. "It just needs to be better."
Stephenson cut it to 3-1 at 10:50 with a backhand from the right face-off circle.

Smith made it 3-2 at 4:04 of the third period when Jonathan Marchessault's shot off a scramble in the low slot went in off him.
Marchessault played 17:04 in his return after missing the previous five games in NHL COVID-19 protocol.
Oilers forwards Leon Draisaitl, first in the NHL with 40 points (20 goals, 20 assists), and Connor McDavid, whose 36 points (14 goals, 22 assists) are tied for second with Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals, were held without a point in the same game for the first time this season.
"Not a lot of teams have kept those guys off the score sheet," Smith said. "There's more to that team than just those two players. The three or four breakaways that we gave, that's what cost us."
NOTES: Hyman has 95 goals and 105 assists in 365 NHL games (345 with Toronto Maple Leafs, 20 with Oilers). … Nugent-Hopkins is two points from 500 in the NHL (498 in 676 games; 187 goals, 311 assists). His goal was his 20th point of the season. ... The Oilers have three players (McDavid, Draisaitl, Nugent-Hopkins) with at least 20 points through the first 20 games for the first time since they had six players in 1988-89 (Mark Messier, Glenn Anderson, Craig Simpson, Jimmy Carson, Esa Tikkanen, Jari Kurri). ... Stephenson extended his goal streak to three games, an NHL career high. ... DeBoer coached in his 99th regular-season game with the Golden Knights. He is 67-28-4 since Vegas hired him Jan. 15, 2020.