Adam Henrique is often overlooked on the Edmonton Oilers, a team that relies on superstars Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl for much of its offense. But the 35-year-old center was the biggest reason the Oilers moved within one win of returning to the Western Conference Final with a 3-0 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 4 of their second-round series at Rogers Place on Monday night.
Henrique scored just once in Edmonton’s first nine postseason games before beating Adin Hill twice in the first 13:03, giving the Oilers a lead they never relinquished.
Henrique converted a pass from Connor Brown after a turnover by Vegas defenseman Zach Whitecloud into the game’s first goal 1:27 into the opening period. He followed that with a nifty shot in traffic from in close at 13:03 for a 2-0 lead.
It was Henrique’s second career two-goal game in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The last one came on April 26, 2012, in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals, when he scored twice and had the series-winning goal in double overtime for the New Jersey Devils in a 3-2 win against the Florida Panthers.
Evander Kane added a second-period goal for the Oilers, who lead the best-of-7 series 3-1 and can end the Golden Knights season Wednesday night by winning Game 5 in Las Vegas.
The early cushion was more than enough for goaltender Stuart Skinner, who made 23 saves to earn his first win in four starts this spring. He got plenty of help from his teammates, who limited Vegas to five shots in the first period, blocked 20 shots and controlled the tempo for most of the game. The Golden Knights managed just eight high-danger chances all night, according to Natural Stat Trick.
“The way that we played tonight was phenomenal, right from puck drop,” Skinner told Sportsnet. “We were stifling defensively. The way we responded after the last game showed a lot of maturity. The guys played so hard tonight, and they deserved it.”
The Golden Knights, who got 29 saves by a combative Hill, face a win-or-go-home game Wednesday night at home. The Oilers have lost just once in their history when they win three of the first four games in a series; the Golden Knights, who entered the NHL in 2017, are 0-2 when trailing 3-1 in a series.
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3 takeaways after Edmonton Oilers’ 3-0 win against Vegas Golden Knights in Game 4
1. Henrique helps Oilers win without McDavid and Draisaitl
Shutting down the Oilers’ top guns is usually a formula for success. That wasn’t the case on Monday.
Draisaitl, who led the NHL in the regular season with 51 goals, was held without a point. McDavid had an assist on Kane’s goal but otherwise wasn’t much of an offensive factor, though he did have two blocked shots, two takeaways and won 11 of 18 face-offs.
Henrique, who finished the regular season with 12 goals and 27 points in a bottom-six role, more than picked up the slack.
He showed the hands that have produced 275 NHL goals on his two first-period tallies. Henrique was alone between the circles when he zipped Brown’s pass over Hill’s glove before the goaltender could react. The second goal came when he pulled the puck between his legs and flipped it over Hill’s right pad and under his armpit.
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2. Skinner steps up
Skinner lost the starter’s job after poor showings in Games 1 and 2 of Edmonton’s first-round series against the Los Angeles Kings. Calvin Pickard stepped in and won six straight games, four against the Kings and the first two against Vegas.
But Pickard was injured late in Game 2, giving Skinner the starter’s job again. He wasn’t good enough in Game 3, allowing four goals on 24 shots and coughing up the game-winner in the final second.
Game 4 was a different story. Skinner entered the game with a save percentage of .817 but looked like the goalie who carried the Oilers within one win of the Stanley Cup last spring. His positioning was solid, he didn’t overplay shots and played with the kind of confidence he hadn’t shown thus far in the playoffs.
“Definitely less nerves. I definitely felt more grounded,” Skinner said. “I just have to keep that going.”
He didn’t have to make a lot of saves but came through when he had to. His two biggest saves might have been on Ivan Barbashev and Brayden McNabb from in close before Henrique scored to make it 2-0. He also made a big stop on Tomas Hertl midway through the third.
It was the second postseason shutout of Skinner career and improved his career record in Game 4s to 4-0.
3. Golden Knights come up small in big spot
Vegas figured to come into Monday’s game riding the momentum of their stunning Game 3 victory, when Reilly Smith scored with :00.4 remaining in the third period. Instead, the Golden Knights were dominated for most of the night.
Henrique’s first goal, the ninth by a team in the first two minutes of a game in this year’s playoffs, meant that the Golden Knights were chasing the game before some of their players had even stepped on the ice. And unlike Game 3, when the Oilers led 2-0 before the game was 12 minutes old only to see Vegas get even before the end of the first period, there was little sign of a spark from the Golden Knights after they fell behind by two goals.
This time, Edmonton was quicker to the puck, won the majority of battles in the corners and was clearly the better team. Vegas was a step slow for most of the game, not as physical as the Oilers and generated little offense. That was especially true in the first period, when the Golden Knights managed just five shots on goal despite getting six minutes of power-play time. They had 12 shots in the third but rarely tested Skinner.
Vegas will have to come up with some answers pretty quickly. Even going home for Game 5 might not be much help; Edmonton won Games 1 and 2 at T-Mobile Arena.
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