5 THINGS: Edmonton Oilers strike gold in series opener against Vegas

The Edmonton Oilers found a way to beat the Vegas Golden Knights at their own game.

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That’s right. Whether it was counting cards, smoke and mirrors or having an inside man on the take, the Oilers managed to beat the house. They went in and won against Las Vegas’s built-in advantage.

Only they weren’t in a casino on the strip, but rather on the ice at T-Mobile Arena. And it wasn’t a game of chance, but playing good ol’ fashioned patient hockey that had the Oilers falling behind early and hanging in just long enough to cash in at the end and emerge victorious, 4-2.

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Here are five factors the Oilers have on their side early on in Round 2:

AT THEIR OWN GAME

The Oilers won by following the Golden Knights’ own style; rolling four lines and matching depth against an opponent with perhaps the deepest roster in the league, no less. And they did it despite having a top-heavy roster of their own where not a lot of goal scoring tends to trickle downward.

Sure, the Oilers top line still came up flush, with both Corey Perry and Leon Draisaitl finding the back of the net, which is to be expected with an ace-in-the-hole like Connor McDavid setting up their goals. But the second and third lines also scored, while not a single player on the Oilers ended up with a negative plus-minus rating.

It was about as good of an all-around effort for a team formerly known not so long ago as little more than Two Guys and a Power Play.

And just like that, the Oilers singlehandedly erased the home-ice advantage the Golden Knights fought so hard over the regular season to achieve by winning the Pacific Division.

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SLOW STARTERS

Things not starting out too well in opening games. No worries, when you’re the Oilers.

In fact, that’s just par for the course in the playoffs here in the McDavid/Draisaitl Era. After all, the safe bet Tuesday would have been a Vegas win in Game 1.

Sure, you’d have lost the farm this time. But no one would have blamed you for playing the odds, considering it was only the third time in their last 13 playoff series openers the Oilers came away victorious.

It was also the fifth time in these playoffs the Oilers rallied to come from behind and win a game, which set a new NHL record. So, the win was both rare and par for the course at the same time.

Either way, the Oilers know the Golden Knights aren’t going to make things any easier on them the rest of the way.

After all, in their minds the house always comes out ahead in the end.

FLYING HY

Zach Hyman has three goals in his past three playoff games, while also scoring 19 in his past 32. That’s a 0.6-per-game clip. And in the post-season, that has made for a lot of pressure off the backs of Edmonton’s two big guns.

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Heck, in that stretch, Hyman has been another caliber above both McDavid and Draisaitl’s career goal pace during post-season play.

He’s got three goals and three assists in seven games in these playoffs.

THE OTHER CONNOR

What’s almost as good as scoring three goals in the last three games?

Why, two goals in the last two games, of course. Made even better when it comes in a stretch of four goals in the last five games.

Connor Brown has been looking more and more like the other Connor on the stats sheet lately, and that’s about as big a complement as any Oilers player can get whose last name doesn’t start with ‘Mc’.

On Tuesday, Brown buried an empty-netter to put things out of reach for the hometown team, and has four goals and two assists in seven playoff games.

PICKING PICKARD

Of course the Oilers were going to stick with Pickard in Round 2.

You’ve got to play your hot hand, after all. And not just because you’re in Las Vegas, either.

But if things keep going at this rate, Calvin Pickard may end up with some of the worst playoff stats out of any Oilers goaltender in history.

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He also may very well end up with a Stanley Cup ring.

Stopping 15 of the 17 shots he faced Tuesday, Edmonton’s former backup ended up with a .882 save percentage and a 2.00 goals-against average, which saw his numbers in these playoffs fall from a .898 save percentage to .891, and a 2.60 goals-against average go to 2.76.

But he also earned his fifth victory of the playoffs, and is the only goalie sitting at 5-0. So, odds are the Oilers are just fine with how things are working out for the 33-year-old former journeyman netminder.

Hey, it’s not Pickard’s fault the Golden Knights only managed two 5-on-5 shots over the final two periods Tuesday. He has his staunch defence and vicious back-checkers to thank for that. Though, he might just have to wait for them to all catch their breath first.

And they did it with their top defensive powerhouse, Mattias Ekholm, out with injury for at least the first two rounds.

E-mail: gmoddejonge@postmedia.com

On Twitter: @GerryModdejonge

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