Vegas Golden Knights' Jonathan Marchessault (81) and Edmonton Oilers' Connor McDavid (97) shake ... [+]
Right wing Jonathan Marchessault scored three straight goals in the second period to complete a natural hat trick and send the Vegas Golden Knights to the 2023 Western Conference finals. The 5-2 win at Rogers Place in Edmonton eliminated the Oilers in six games. Vegas returns home and will host Game 1 of the conference finals Wednesday against Monday’s Game 7 winner between the Dallas Stars and Seattle Kraken.
Vegas is the No. 1 seed in the West, but the Knights were an underdog to win the series against the Oilers. That will change as Vegas will take money as the Western Conference Finals favorite.
Seattle is an underdog at Dallas (-215) Monday in Game 7, according to hockey odds from leading online sportsbooks.
The Western Conference series odds and Game 1 odds will be updated here upon completion of Game 7 between Dallas and Seattle.
The heated series between Edmonton and Vegas saw the Oilers favored in every contest. But the top-seeded Golden Knights finished the series stronger in 5-of-5 play while scoring 22 goals (2 empty net) including four power play goals. The Knights also outscored Edmonton 17-10 even-strength, and the Oilers finished with 19 goals including nine on the power play.
"In the playoffs, there are so many different momentum swings in the game," said Vegas forward Reilly Smith following the Game 5 win. "The team who can handle them better and control them usually ends up on top.”
Vegas did that in Game 6 and Smith opened the scoring 30 seconds into the game. Oilers star Connor McDavid answered 30 seconds later and Edmonton scored again two minutes later to lead 2-1 at the first intermission. But the second period belonged to the Knights and Marchessault, who scored three straight goals to give Vegas a 4-2 lead into the third period. Marachessault has five playoff goals this year, and he’s scored more playoff goals than anyone in franchise history (26).
While the Canadian teams Stanley Cup drought continues, Vegas has the most Canadians on the roster of the remaining teams in the playoffs (15). That includes goaltenders Adin Hill, Laurent Brossoit and Logan Thompson, who was an early-season Calder Trophy candidate as top rookie and made the NHL All-Star team before his lower-body injury in early February.
Vegas goalie Adin Hill was superb in Game 6 and stopped 39 shots after allowing two goals on the Oilers first two shots of the game. Hill will be counted on again for the conference finals with Laurent Brossoit suffering a lower body injury in Game 2 versus the Oilers and still not ready to return in net for the Knights. But Hill was quick to point out the strength of the Knights defensemen and his chance to contribute.
“I’ve worked very hard my whole life to get to the NHL and to be here,” the 27-year-old Hill said after the Game 6 win. “It’s exciting being on a team that’s this good and has chance to really do it all. I’m grateful and I’m excited about it.”
The Golden Knights out-gunned the high-scoring Oilers after Edmonton led the NHL in scoring this season and had a record-setting power play unit that scored on 32.4 percent of their power plays, the best success rate since the league started tracking the statistic in 1977-78. The Oilers were even better on the power play against the Knights, but Vegas showed more discipline in Game 6 with just two penalties. The Golden Knights were the least-penalized team in the NHL in the regular season with only 2.92 per 60 minutes.
“We have a lot of older guys on the team that have been through a lot of situations,” Marchessault said. “We don’t panic. It’s one of our strengths and it’s definitely going to help in the future.”
Vegas (+200) is now the slight favorite to win the Stanley Cup with the Carolina Hurricanes (+215) and Florida Panthers (+350) next. And neither Dallas or Seattle is going to prevent the Golden Knights from reaching the Cup finals.
You can bet on it.
