Draisaitl, McDavid deliver in OT for Oilers after being held in check most of Game 2

LAS VEGAS -- It was all there for the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 2 of the Western Conference Second Round.

They had rebounded from blowing a lead, which they couldn’t do in Game 1. They killed a five-minute major in overtime and they suffocated the top line of the Edmonton Oilers.

It was a recipe for success, until it wasn’t.

Connor McDavid broke free after 75 minutes of relative captivity to set up the game-winning goal by Leon Draisaitl at 15:20 that gave Edmonton a 5-4 win at T-Mobile Arena on Thursday.

“Not our best, not my best, but we found a way,” the Oilers captain said. “We get paid to score goals in big moments and we found a way to do it tonight.”

With the defensive game plan Vegas devised after struggling to contain the McDavid line during a 4-2 loss in Game 1 on Tuesday, there was precious little space and McDavid and his linemates were muted.

“Are you trying to rub it in?” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy responded to praise of his team’s defensive effort on the most dangerous line in hockey. “Listen, it’s 4-4, their top guys aren’t on the score sheet, we need this one to go our way. … But it didn’t. They made the play at the end. They don’t need much.”

The Oilers have a 2-0 lead in the best-of-7 series and are in command heading to Edmonton for Game 3 on Saturday (9 p.m. ET; CBC, TVAS, SN, TNT, truTV, MAX).

Teams that win the first two games of a best-of-7 series when beginning on the road advance 80.0 percent of the time (88-22).

Edmonton was reeling a bit Thursday, though.

It had blown a 4-2 lead and three golden opportunities to win the game. First, it failed to score during a five-minute power play after Nicolas Roy was assessed a major penalty and game misconduct for cross-checking at 5:37 of overtime. Just as the power play expired, Zach Hyman hit the crossbar following a defensive mistake by the Golden Knights at 10:35, and McDavid then hit the post at 13:18.

The top line had no points through regulation and had combined for just five shots on goal.

The line briefly was broken up during overtime for a new look and to get away from the matchups Cassidy was deploying.

Then the Golden Knights blinked, and McDavid pounced.

“When you have elite talent, those game-breakers, they just need a moment or an opportunity to make that play,” Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch said. “You saw it tonight. Not too often they're quiet for an entire game and don't show up on the score sheet.

“Tonight, when we needed them most, they made a heck of a play there.”

On the winning goal, Edmonton defenseman Evan Bouchard made a great play to head off Vegas forward Mark Stone’s rush before gathering the puck and rimming it around the boards to Corey Perry, who passed to McDavid in the neutral zone.

McDavid squared up to a flat-footed Jack Eichel, the man most responsible for McDavid’s struggles on this night, and caught him leaning forward.

Now it was a 2-on-1, McDavid carrying the puck into the offensive zone with defenseman Alex Pietrangelo retreating and Draisaitl steaming ahead to his left. McDavid downshifted, slowing radically, and, in a split second, passed to Draisaitl for a one-timer from the inside edge of the left circle past a sprawling Adin Hill.

Game over. Mastery broken.

“I think it’s [McDavid]’s timing,” said Draisaitl, who said that the finish was so easy that it was tough to celebrate. “And just an amazing play by Corey to get it off the [wall]. That’s not a great situation to be in when you have 97 coming at you at full steam. Just an all-world play.”

It’s not anything new.

These two players have combined for the game-winning goal 103 times in the regular season since McDavid joined the team after being selected with the No. 1 pick in the 2015 NHL Draft.

They now have done it seven times during the postseason.

How good is that?

Henrik and Daniel Sedin (159), Wayne Gretzky and Jari Kurri (106) and Mike Bossy and Bryan Trottier (102) are the only other duos to combine for more than 100 career game-winning goals.

Edmonton dropped the first two games of the first round on the road at the Los Angeles Kings but now has won six straight. The Oilers have trailed at some point in each of the six games.

It’s the first time that has happened in the history of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

“We’ve come from behind lots," McDavid said. "We obviously gave up a lead today. We’ve won overtime games and we’ve won different ways. You have to do that this time of year. The group is feeling confident but I feel our best is still coming.”

That can’t be a good feeling for the Golden Knights, who have to win four of the next five games against a team that made it to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final before losing to the Florida Panthers last season.

“I thought we outplayed the Oilers for the most part of the game and deserved a better fate,” Cassidy said.

McDavid, who won the Conn Smythe Trophy as the most valuable player of the playoffs last season, made sure it didn’t happen.