Still In Vacation Mode: Oilers outclassed by Golden Knights in Game 1

LAS VEGAS — They spent three days on a Santa Monica beach after winning Round 1, and when Round 2 began the Edmonton Oilers looked exactly like you’d think they would. 

Like a bunch of guys coming off of a beach vacation. 

Attention to detail, execution of the game plan, knowing when to make the safe, easy play… All of those things got left behind at their swanky boutique hotel like a broken pair of sandals, or those sunglasses you can never seem to find when you get on the plane home. 

Leon Drasiaitl scored four times, but even that Herculean effort wasn't enough to carry the Edmonton Oilers past the quick and decisive Vegas Golden Knights, as the Oilers dropped Game 1 of their Round 2 series by a 6-4 score. 

“I didn't think we gave them a whole lot of trouble tonight. I thought we made it too easy on them — and that can't happen,” said Mattias Ekholm, after a two-assist, plus-2 night. “To be honest, I didn't enjoy the game tonight too much. I thought we gave them our ‘B’ or ‘C’ game. 

“Towards the end it's a winnable game still. So there's some kind of strength in that too, but I think we can be a lot better.” 

The old Oilers used to love games like this one. 

It was a track meet of the highest order, with goals off the rush, goals off the goalie’s back, a five-goal first period and a 10-goal series-opener. 

These Oilers? They’ve grown past games like this. 

Heck, even Draisaitl wouldn’t offer more than a single syllable when asked if he could derive any joy from a four-goal night, bringing him to 11 in these young playoffs. 

“No,” he said. 

“No?” we asked. 

“No,” he explained. 

That’d be a no then… 

“Leon typically raises his game at this time of the year,” said his head coach, Jay Woodcroft. “He's one of the highest points-per-game players in the history of the game. His name's right up there with some of the top, top people in the history of the game.” 

That is not hyperbole: 

Of players who have played more than seven career playoff games, only Wayne Gretzky’s 1.84 points per game are better than Draisaitl’s 1.68 — in the history of the game. Sure, Draisaitl is only 44 games into his playoff resume, but still, this guy is some kind of playoff producer, with 11-4-15 in seven games this spring. 

Connor McDavid, meanwhile was also dangerous, with five shots on goal and two assists on a 24-minute night. But we’re not sure he’s entirely right. 

He still has a step on defenders, but not the usual step-and-a-half. And his change of direction, stop-and-start game is not as lethal as we’ve seen it, perhaps owing to some type of left leg malady, an appendage he continues to flex after whistles, periodically. 

Still, McDavid could have had at least two more points in a typically dynamic performance by the Oilers captain. 

But this one wasn’t about what went in at the other end, however. For Edmonton, this was about the five that ended up behind a mostly disregarded Stuart Skinner, who earlier in the day had been named a finalist for the Calder Trophy. 

After a Draisaitl powerplay goal 3:56 into the game, big Vince Desharnais committed an egregious giveaway that was in the net shortly thereafter. The Oilers' lead lasted all of 40 seconds. 

Then when Draisaitl’s third made it 3-3, just 1:35 into the third period, Edmonton had momentum and more than just a chance to win. But Vegas scored at 2:36 and 3:26 — two quick goals that buried the Oilers. 

“We score the first goal and then we give one up right away. That can't happen,” said Evander Kane, one of few Oilers who have skated in a playoff series in this madhouse of an arena, back when he played for San Jose. “You want to score first in this building, which is really important. We can't give up goals in bunches and we can't give up goals after we score. 

“We weren't (either) of those two things tonight.” 

Of course, the Golden Knights deserve credit for converting on four even-strength goals (and an empty-netter). They were the vastly superior team at five-on-five play, more clinical off the rush, and superior at converting an Edmonton mistake into a Vegas goal. 

Nobody walked out of this rink into the Las Vegas night thinking the Oilers got jobbed, or that the Golden Knights were lucky. 

Vegas was better in Game 1, the bright side for Edmonton being that they played poorly and were only trailing by one goal late, the game fully retrievable. 

Then the Oilers pulled Skinner, and in the process took a legit too many men on the ice penalty. Because that’s the way Edmonton’s night was going to go. 

A four-goal night from Draisaitl, and not another Oilers player could find twine. 

Some days, it’s just not your night. 

“I don't think our team was anywhere near where it needed to be in order to walk away with a road win in the playoffs,” Woodcroft said. “We had a great effort. It's been good all playoffs here. But our team you know can do things a lot better than we did tonight.” 

No argument here.