Golden Knights defeat Oilers in Game 3, take lead in Western 2nd Round

EDMONTON -- Jonathan Marchessault scored his first two goals of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the Vegas Golden Knights in a 5-1 win against the Edmonton Oilers in Game 3 of the Western Conference Second Round at Rogers Place on Monday.

Vegas leads the best-of-7 series, 2-1. Game 4 will be here Wednesday.

Jack Eichel had a goal and two assists for the Golden Knights, the top seed in the Western Conference. Adin Hill stopped all 24 shots he faced in relief of Laurent Brossoit, who left at 11:44 of the first period with a lower-body injury.

Brossoit, who had hip surgery last May, went down while making a save on Connor McDavid and pushing himself across the crease for a rebound attempt by Evander Kane. Brossoit stopped three of four shots.

There was no update on Brossoit's status after the game.

"Gutsy performance by 'Hillsy,' that's not an easy thing to do," Eichel said. "I've never done it, so I can't really say how it is, but I'm sure it's tough. It's tough to see our starting goalie go down and be in the type of pain he was in. You don't want to see anyone go through that.

"We know what 'L.B.' has been through in terms of rehabbing (from surgery) and getting back to great playing form, so it's tough to see him get injured there. But ton of credit to Hillsy coming in mid-game, I know he hasn't played a lot lately, but I thought he did a great job."

RELATED: [Complete Golden Knights vs. Oilers series coverage]

Warren Foegele scored his first goal of the playoffs for the Oilers, the No. 2 seed in the Pacific Division. Stuart Skinner made 19 saves on 23 shots before being pulled for Jack Campbell in the second period. Campbell stopped nine of 10 shots.

Leon Draisaitl's eight-game point streak ended (17 points; 13 goals, four assists), and McDavid was also held without a point. Draisaitl had scored in five straight.

"We win as a team and we don't win as a team," Edmonton coach Jay Woodcroft said. "This isn't done [by] any one individual. I keep coming back to it, but to a man, all of us can be a whole lot better."

Foegele gave the Oilers a 1-0 lead at 2:45 of the first period, getting past defenseman Brayden McNabb to knock in a centering pass from Derek Ryan.

"Obviously, not a lot to like about tonight," McDavid said before pointing to Foegele's line opening the scoring. "I thought they were really good. You need everybody and I thought they played really well, and the rest of the group wasn't quite there."

Marchessault tied it 1-1 at 4:44 with his first of two first-period goals, each assisted by Eichel, putting the rebound past the left skate of Skinner.

He then gave Vegas a 2-1 lead at 19:09 after Eichel sent a backhand pass ahead of a diving Darnell Nurse.

"We just didn't defend to the standard that I think we hold ourselves to at this point," Nurse said. "This time of year, it's hard to win hockey games and it's hard to win hockey games if you're not doing the right things in the hard areas."

Zach Whitecloud put the Golden Knights ahead 3-1 at 7:25 of the second period, scoring from the right face-off dot.

"I think we played a consistent game from start to finish," Whitecloud said. "You have to try and limit their weapons and discipline is a factor for sure, so I think we did a good job in that area. We stuck to our strengths, played the right way and stuck together out there. We played a good game tonight."

Eichel extended it to 4-1 at 12:03, shooting over Skinner's glove on a 3-on-1 after Oilers defenseman Evan Bouchard lost his balance and fell to the ice.

Campbell then replaced Skinner, and made six saves on seven shots.

"Certainly, we don't like to do that at this time of year when, obviously, you lose in big games," said McDavid, the Oilers captain. "With that being said, we were in the same position last series (against the Los Angeles Kings).

"We've bounced back before. Obviously, it's a big Game 4. We understand that and I would expect, again, our sense of urgency to go up. I expect our best game in Game 4."

Chandler Stephenson made it 5-1 at 17:13 after tapping in a centering pass by Nicolas Roy. The goal came after 17 seconds after Vegas had a goal disallowed because of goaltender interference from Alec Martinez at 16:56.

Hill played his second straight game in relief after replacing Brossoit in the third period of Edmonton's 5-1 win in Game 2.

"You look back and I think fortunately for him, he got into the third period the other night and he got a taste of the temperature of playoff hockey," Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. "It wasn't the best circumstances, but it probably helped him a little tonight. As for our team, we've been through a lot with goaltenders all year. I think we'll try to keep playing the same way no matter who's in there, and I think that's what we did tonight."

NOTES: Prior to his first goal, Marchessault had not scored in 14 consecutive playoff games. It was his first postseason goal since the 2021 Stanley Cup Semifinals against the Montreal Canadiens. ... Marchessault set a Golden Knights record with his fifth career multigoal playoff game, passing forward Mark Stone (four) ... It was Eichel's second three-point game of the playoffs (Game 3 of the first round against the Winnipeg Jets on April 22). ... Hill and Brossoit became the fourth and fifth goalies this season to hold both Draisaitl and McDavid off the score sheet, joining Jordan Binnington (St. Louis Blues; Oct. 22, 2022), Cal Petersen (Kings; Nov. 16, 2022) and Ilya Sorokin (New York Islanders; Nov. 23, 2022).