May 11, 2025 by Ryan Lotsberg

The Edmonton Oilers came into Game 3 of their second round series against the Vegas Golden Knights on a roll having won six straight games, including the first two games of the series at T-Mobile Arena. Vibes were high in Edmonton on a beautiful Saturday night where the home team held a 2-0 series lead, and they only grew higher when the Oilers jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period. The lead was short-lived though. Goals from Nicolas Roy (who should’ve been suspended for this game) and Reilly Smith less than a minute apart tied the game at two heading into the first intermission.

William Karlsson put the Golden Knights up 3-2 in the second period, and the Golden Knights led by the same score at the second intermission. The Oilers got a bounce and tied the game with about three minutes left. Alas, it wasn’t to be for the Oilers on Saturday night. Smith scored with 0.4 seconds left to give the Golden Knights the win in Game 3.

Callouts

It’s rare to see Leon Draisaitl in this section, but this is one of those times. Draisaitl turned the puck over at the offensive blue line leading to a rush opportunity the other way prior to the Golden Knights’ first goal. The initial rush was broken up, but the Golden Knights scored seconds afterwards. He also had the unfortunate luck of having the game-winning goal go into the Oilers net off his stick. He was just trying to break up the play to make sure it didn’t go across the crease, but the puck went into the net instead. Draisaitl got two assists, but he also had four giveaways and two major mistakes on goals against.

I’m not pinning this loss on Stuart Skinner by any stretch. He made some great saves, and he got hung out to dry on three of the Golden Knights’ goals. He could’ve taken a different approach on the game-winning goal though. Skinner challenged Smith after he outwaited a sliding Darnell Nurse. Skinner didn’t come out aggressively enough to check the puck away from Smith or to force a shot, but he came out too far to be able to recover to make the save when Smith outwaited him as well.

One such example of when Skinner got hung out to dry was on the third goal. The Oilers had been hemmed in their own zone for an extended shift. The puck came out to centre ice, and the Oilers went for a change. The problem was that it was the second period, so it was a long change, and the puck only got to centre ice. Mattias Janmark got caught flat footed at the blueline, and the Golden Knights ended up with an odd-man rush. They finished off a nice passing play. The puck went between Skinner’s arm and his body, but the defensive breakdown and the nice passing play by the Golden Knights outweigh that discretion from Skinner.

Ultimately, it was a team loss. There were too many defensive breakdowns, and 20 shots on goal in a home game where you have a chance to go up 3-0 on an opponent isn’t enough.

Standouts

Corey Perry scored the first two goals of the game for the Oilers. He was the trailer on a rush opportunity for the Oilers, and Connor McDavid found him. Perry had all the time in the world to cut into the slot and put the game’s opening goal past Adin Hill. Then Perry tipped home an Evan Bouchard point shot on the powerplay. Perry turns 40 in six days, and he just put up two goals in a playoff game! He now has five goals in nine games in these playoffs, and he has 56 career playoff goals, which ties him with Paul Coffey.

Shoutouts

McDavid made the nice play to Perry for a primary assist on the first Oilers goal. He also scored the game-tying goal that we thought was going to send the game to overtime. McDavid saw Zach Hyman in front of the net, and he just threw the puck there. It went in off of Brayden McNabb’s skate.

Bouchard had two assists in Game 3. He continues to produce in the playoffs. Bouchard also wasn’t a factor in any of the goals against, which is an encouraging sign.

Wrap

That was a heartbreaking loss for the Oilers. They tied it after giving up their early two-goal lead, only to have disaster strike in the final second. It reminded me of Game 1 against the Los Angeles Kings where the Oilers came back only to have the Kings score the game-winner in the final minute.

Perhaps they were due for an outcome like this though. They came back and won six consecutive games. Some things have to go right for you if you’re going to win six straight, let alone winning six straight games with comebacks. They were never going to win sixteen straight games in the playoffs, so a loss had to be coming at some point. As tough as that last second bounce was, we also have to remember that McDavid’s game-tying goal was also a lucky bounce off an opponent, so it wasn’t as if all the luck resided with Vegas.

Give the Golden Knights credit as well. They limited the Oilers to 20 shots. The Oilers had a tough time maintaining possession and creating offensive chances. Part of that has to do with their own play, but the opponent deserves credit as well. They outplayed the Oilers for big chunks of Game 2, and they did that again in Game 3.

The Oilers still have a 2-1 series lead with a home game where they will have a chance to put a stranglehold on the series on Monday night.

Related: Callouts, Standouts, and Shoutouts: Cardiac Oilers strike again in controversial Game 2 win in Vegas