5 Takeaways From Oilers' Streak-Extending 6-3 Win Over Golden Knights – The Hockey Writers – Edmonton Oilers
The Edmonton Oilers continued their hot streak with a 6-3 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights at Rogers Place on Saturday (Dec. 14).
Connor Brown, Leon Draisaitl, Zach Hyman, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Corey Perry and Jeff Skinner all scored for the Oilers. Vegas responded with goals from Ivan Barbashev, Brett Howden, and Victor Olofsson.
Oilers netminder Stuart Skinner made 38 saves in the win, while Vegas goaltender Adin Hill suffered the loss after allowing six goals on 34 shots.
Related: Oilers Hold On to Defeat Golden Knights 6-3
Edmonton has now won five straight and eight of its last nine overall. The Oilers are also on a five-game home winning streak and have won seven of their last eight contests at Rogers Place.
Since losing to Vegas 4-2 on Nov. 6, Edmonton is 12-3-1 with a .781 save percentage, best in the NHL during the season. This was Edmonton's first win in three tries against Vegas this season, and the Oilers are now just three points behind the Golden Knights in first place in the Pacific Division.
All of that to say, things are looking pretty good for the Oilers right now. Here's a closer look at the recent victories of the Western Conference champions.
Oilers Build Insurmountable Lead
In the second half, Edmonton scored four times in an 11:40 span, opening up a 5-0 lead before the second half was even 13 minutes old.
The game was over by then. Or at least, it should have been. But impressively, the Golden Knights responded with two quick goals, from Olofsson at 15:35 and Barbashev at 16:01, to take a 5-2 lead into the second halftime.
Then disaster struck for Stuart Skinner in the first minute of the third period, when the Oilers were on the power play. Edmonton's goalie misplayed the puck behind his net, and coughed it up to Howden. Skinner then fell to the ice, leaving the net unguarded for Howden to score easily with 19 minutes remaining.
A hush fell on the Rogers Place crowd. With their seemingly insurmountable lead now stretched to two goals, how will the Oilers respond?
Skinner Helping Skinner
Leave it to one Skinner to take out another. On the ensuing turnover after Howden scored, the Oilers found the Vegas zone, pressing with a sense of urgency and purpose.
Edmonton defenseman Mattias Ekholm took a slap shot just inside the blue line set up by Hill, but Jeff Skinner pounced on the rebound and past the Vegas goalie at 1:38 of the third period.
It was the sixth goal of the season for the Oilers forward, putting the game out of reach. However, the Golden Knights did not go away. The visitors fired another 14 shots at Stuart Skinner, but Edmonton's goalie stepped up, stopped them all, and made a couple of saves that should stand out in the process.
A Strong Game Between the Pipes
However, Stuart Skinner had a bad outing on Saturday. During his postgame press conference, Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch praised his goaltender:
“Stu was our best player today,” Knoblauch said. “I thought he played very well. He made one mistake tonight, but that was probably our worst defensive game. A number of opportunities we have given up this evening, and he has just saved after saving. You need your keeper to make saves, and I think our goalies have done a really good job over the last few weeks in winning us games. We're obviously very happy with Stu and he needs to score goals like that if we're going to be successful for a long time, and that's what I saw last year.”
While Skinner had his streak of allowing two or fewer goals in five starts, his 38 saves were the most in a game this season. Since November 22, Skinner is 5-1-0 with a .942 save percentage (SV%) and a 1.68 goals against average (GAA). That's a significant statistical improvement over his first 14 appearances of 2024-25, where he was 6-6-2 with an .876 SV% and 3.33 GAA.
Skinner was given an 83rd regular season wins of his career, tying Mikko Koskinen for sixth-most by a goaltender in Oilers history.
Oilers Move Up the Charts
Another Oiler was climbing the all-time charts on Saturday. Connor McDavid got help, giving Edmonton's captain 1,023 points in the regular season, just 91 points behind Brian Bellows.St place in NHL history. McDavid is just two points behind Patrik Elias with 90th place.
Meanwhile, Draisaitl had two assists to go along with his goal on Saturday. Draisaitl remains first in the NHL in goals this season, with 22, and is now tied for fourth in 2024-25, along with Minnesota Wild forward Kirill Kaprizov, who has 45.
Oilers Receive Contributions From Wide Team
Draisaitl and McDavid will always get their stats, but the highlight of Edmonton's win Saturday — and the highlight of their recent success — was the number of players who came in offensively.
It was the third time this season that at least six different Oilers scored in a game, and the second game in a row, following Edmonton's 7-1 win over Minnesota on Thursday (Dec. 12), in which seven different Oilers scored.
12 different Oilers players had at least one point Saturday, tied for the second most in a game this season, one less than the 13 players who recorded a goal or assist against the Wild on Thursday.
The Oilers will look to continue their winning ways when they return to action on Monday (Dec. 16) in the highly anticipated Stanley Cup Final against the Florida Panthers at Rogers Place.
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