Golden Knights push point streak to 5, ease past Oilers in pivotal Pacific game

EDMONTON -- Carter Hart made 31 saves, and Jack Eichel had three assists for the Vegas Golden Knights in a 5-1 win against the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place on Saturday.

Jeremy Lauzon and Brett Howden each had a goal and an assist for the Golden Knights (35-26-16), who have won three straight and are 3-0-2 in their past five. Ivan Barbashev had two assists.

“I think we’re consistently trying to play fast, certainly playing north,” Vegas coach John Tortorella said. “We had a lot of good minutes tonight, I thought Carter was really good. We had some hiccups here and there but I thought we stayed within ourselves and kept playing.”

The Golden Knights remained in third place in the Pacific Division, but moved one point behind the Oilers and Anaheim Ducks, who are tied for first.

“I think we’re buying into the mindset of just playing fast hockey, checking and moving our feet and playing teams really tight and aggressively and getting up in people’s faces,” Vegas forward Colton Sissons said. “We’re kind of building our confidence back and our swag in that department, so it’s been good.”

Evan Bouchard scored the lone goal for the Oilers (39-29-9), who ended a season-high five-game winning streak and finished a four-game homestand 3-1-0. Connor Ingram made 28 saves.

“When things are going well, you forget about those details, those first couple strides coming back, get a little extra aggressive on the pinch,” Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch said. “You’re thinking maybe you’re overconfident, getting a little bit lazy or whatever it is, I think we’re just not paying attention to those details.

“So, a lot of stuff that we’ve just got to clean up. Easily fixable.”

Howden put the Golden Knights up 1-0 at 11:43 of the first period. Eichel's initial wrist shot from the right face-off circle rebounded off the blocker into the left circle, where he snapped the puck past a diving Ingram.

Sissons made it 2-0 at 5:44 of the second period, redirecting a backdoor feed from Mitch Marner as he drove to the net.

Lauzon extended the lead to 3-0 at 8:04 with his first goal in over two years. Eichel slid a pass to Lauzon in the left circle, where he beat Ingram with a snap shot short side for his first goal in 113 games dating back to Feb. 22, 2024, when he was a member of the Nashville Predators.

“It was a great moment I was waiting for it for a long time,” Lauzon said. “I thought our team played unbelievable tonight and it’s a huge win for our club.

“I thought we were relentless on the forecheck, we were good down low and we put a lot of pressure on those 'D.' And it paid off.”

Bouchard cut the deficit to 3-1 at 19:26 when he took the puck from Vegas forward Pavel Dorofeyev along the boards at the blue line, skated into the high slot and buried a wrist shot to the blocker side that went bar down.

“I feel like everyone's starting to play some of their best hockey,” Oilers forward Trent Frederic said. “You want to be a team that times it well, that goes into the playoffs and everyone is feeling good about the group game and individually as well.”

Mark Stone made it 4-1 at 4:04 of the third period. Barbashev sent a shot on net from the left circle that Stone tipped past Ingram's glove from in front.

Rasmus Andersson scored a power-play goal with a slap shot from above the right circle at 16:13 to secure the 5-1 final. Barbashev's primary assist was his 200th in the NHL.

“We got away from the way that we know how to play. We were slow tonight and that’s the result against a team like that,” Edmonton defenseman Jake Walman said. “We were going against a team we are probably going to see down the line, so showing up like that … we’ve got to kind of step back and regroup.

“We’re a team so the standings separation doesn’t bother us as much, but getting back to the way that we can play is probably the biggest thing.”

NOTES: Eichel recorded his 95th multipoint game with the Golden Knights, which tied Jonathan Marchessault for the second-most in franchise history. Only Stone (102) has more. ... Andersson has five points (three goals, two assists) in a four-game streak. ... Eichel (25 goals, 57 assists) became the first player in Vegas history with back-to-back 80-point seasons. ... Tortorella joined Bruce Cassidy (3-0-0) and Gerard Gallant (3-0-0) as the third coach in Golden Knights history to win each of their first three games. ... Eichel recorded his 25th three-point game with Vegas, tying Marchessault for the second-most in franchise history behind Stone (31). ... Connor McDavid’s point streak ended at six games (11 points; six goals, five assists).