FSM Essential Recap: Golden Knights vs Oilers - Game 6 - 2023

FSM Essential Recap: Golden Knights vs Oilers – Game 6 – 2023

Franchise Sports Media

Vegas Golden Knights (8-3) vs Edmonton Oilers (6-6)

 

Led by Jonathan Marchessault’s hat trick, the Vegas Golden Knights eliminate the Oilers and advance to the Western Conference Final. 

, It is game 6 of the Golden Knights vs Oilers series. 

So much was at stake in Game 6 in Edmonton at Rogers Place between the Vegas Golden Knights and Edmonton Oilers. The Oilers, led by Connor McDavid, were trying to keep their playoff hopes alive and force a decisive Game 7 while the Golden Knights were looking to advance to their fourth Western Conference Final. Something had to give.

But destiny favored Vegas as they defeated the Edmonton Oilers 5-2 to advance to the Western Conference Final to await the winner of the Seattle Kraken and Dallas Stars series.

Jonathan Marchessault was the key figure in winning as he scored three goals getting a hat trick, his second in his playoff career. Vegas goaltender Adin Hill finished the night with 39 saves.

“We’re definitely going to enjoy it tonight, but we’re just halfway done,” Marchessault said. “Every night, everybody out here is just trying to play the right way, and sometimes we get rewarded. One night, it’s one guy. One night, it’s another one. And that’s the mentality we have this year, just next man in and keep it going.”

Adin Hill helped the Golden Knights to victory, as he has since becoming the starter for the past three games after Laurent Brossoit left with a lower-body injury. Despite the goaltender change, the Golden Knights have remained calm under the pressure.

“He was awesome. I can’t give ‘Hilly’ enough credit, obviously,” Golden Knights center Jack Eichel said. “‘L.B.’ goes down early in the series, and he steps in ready to rock, and he played fantastic for us. You need your goalie to be good, and I can’t say enough good things about him.”

On the flip side, the Edmonton Oilers’ playoff run comes to an end with stars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl still in search of the Stanley Cup. They must go to the drawing board this offseason.

Connor McDavid and Warren Foegele each scored a goal; Edmonton goaltender Stuart Skinner made 13 saves on 17 shots before being replaced by backup Jack Campbell for the second game in a row and the third time in the series. Campbell finished the night with four saves after entering to start the third period.

“It hurts,” said Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl, who did not have a point and was minus-4. “It’s tough to find words right now. Obviously, when you start a season, we’re in it to win it, and we’re at that stage. If you don’t complete that, then it feels like a failure or a wasted year almost. It hurts. We couldn’t create enough 5-on-5, but we scored two 5-on-5 tonight, and sometimes that’s got to be enough. I have to take a lot of ownership myself. I wasn’t good tonight. It’s always tough. Guys play me hard, I know that, but I have to find a way to be better.”

End of the first period in the Golden Knights vs Oilers series

In the first period, Vegas took a 1-0 lead for the first time in this series, but the Oilers answered seconds later to tie the game 1-1.  

The start of periods 2 and 3 in the Golden Knights vs Oilers series.

Connor McDavid scored 31 seconds after shooting from the right face-off dot to tie the game 1-1.

With the game tied, the tempo shifted in favor of the Oilers after Warren Foegele scored after firing a one-timer shot to give the Oilers the lead of 2-1.

With no panic in the minds of the Golden Knights being down by a goal in the second period, Jonathan Marchessault took over throughout the game.

Marchessault tied the game 2-2 after Ivan Barbashev one-timed the puck across the crease to Marchessault, who put it past a diving Skinner from the right side of the net.

The Golden Knights were far from finished. Marchessault scored his second goal of the night after an easy tap-in over Skinner to give Vegas the lead again, 3-2.

Marchessault completed the hat trick scoring his third goal of the night after firing a wrist shot from the left circle to extend the lead to 4-2. The Oilers continued to battle back in the game and even got a couple of good chances in the third period, but Adin Hill made the stops. Edmonton could not get any pucks past him.

With the game pretty much out of reach with less than a minute left, William Karlsson scored an empty net goal to put the game away 5-2 for a Vegas victory.

The Golden Knights are now in their fourth conference final in their sixth year since becoming an expansion team; that is more times than 11 different NHL teams have in their franchise history.

With the playoff experience over the years, this is not new to Vegas. The Golden Knights still have a handful of players from the team that reached the Stanley Cup Final in their inaugural season in 2017-18.

“We’re only halfway done to our goal here,” Marchessault said. “We’re going to keep going for our organization until we win the ultimate goal. Tonight is just one step in the right direction.”

The final score in game 6 of the Golden Knights vs Oilers series was 5-2, Vegas.

 The Golden Knights will play in the Western Conference Final and await the winner of the Dallas Stars and Seattle Kraken series. The puck drop time and date are TBA. The game can be seen on AT&T SportsNet (channel 313 on Cox Cable) or heard on 98.9 FM, FOX Sports Las Vegas 1340 AM.