Vegas gives stunned Edmonton Oilers a taste of their own medicine

Live by the comeback, die by the comeback.

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With the Edmonton Oilers storming out to an early 2-0 lead and a delirious crowd at Rogers Place turning the volume to 11, the Vegas Golden Knights reminded everyone why they won a Stanley Cup championship two years ago.

In what amounted to a do-or-die Game 3 against the Oilers, the Knights showed the kind of character and mettle that earns you a ring.

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Or, in this case, keeps you from falling into a black hole from which there is no escape.

The Knights gave Edmonton a taste of its own dramatic medicine, scoring three-straight goals to take a 3-2 lead, then scoring the jaw-dropping winner with 0.4 seconds left in the game after Connor McDavid had tied it for the Oilers.

The game was headed for overtime when Leon Draisaitl tipped a Reilly Smith shot, which might have been going wide, into Edmonton’s net.

It was a stunner of all stunners.

Everything was going exactly how the Oilers had hoped in the first period. Corey Perry made it 1-0 at 7:19. Then he made it 2-0 at 11:12 to become the oldest player in Oilers franchise history and third-oldest in NHL history, to score multiple goals in a playoff game.

At the other end of the ice, Skinner was getting some touches, making some saves and had the crowd at Rogers chanting his name after every save.

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Up 2-0 with five minutes left in the opening period, the Oilers were cruising.

Then, the self-inflicted gunshots started ringing out.

Drasiaitl, fresh off his overtime winner in Game 2, tried to make a play at the blue line and turned the puck over for a two-on-one that eventually led to Skinner losing sight of the puck after an awkward save and the first Vegas goal.

Just 54 seconds later, Reilly Smith walked right through a couple of stick checks from Vasily Podkolzin and Viktor Arvidsson, right down main street, and scored on the breakaway to make it 2-2.

With three minutes left in the second period, a bad change by the Oilers gave Vegas a four-on-two and the go-ahead goal heading into the second intermission.

With hope fading in the third period, McDavid appeared to force overtime when Vegas stunned the building.

With Calvin Pickard forced out of the lineup with an injury after six-straight wins, the responsibility for Game 3 fell on the shoulders of Stuart Skinner, back in the crease after losing the first two games against Los Angeles.

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The winning streak is over, but this wasn’t on the goalie. He was better than the team in front of him. This was a second-straight game in which the Oilers weren’t at their best.

LATE HITS — The Knights welcomed Pavel Dorofeyev, a 35-goal scorer in the regular season, back into the lineup, but the attrition continued when Mark Stone left the game in the first period after sliding into Perry’s leg … With the NHL’s head of player safety George Parros having softened the league’s position on cross-checking opponents in the face (it’s just a fine now, not a suspension), the Knights had Nicolas Roy in the lineup and he scored their first goal … Perry’s two goals at 39 years, 359 days beats Willy Lindstrom’s 1984 feat by nearly seven years. The only two players to score later in life are Nick Lidstrom (41 years, 8 days) and Teemu Selanne (40 years, 288 days).

E-mail: rtychkowski@postmedia.com

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