Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had a goal and an assist on Wednesday as the Edmonton Oilers beat the Vegas Golden Knights 4-1 to even their second-round NHL playoff series at two games apiece.
Nick Bjugstad, Evan Bouchard and Mattias Ekholm also scored as the Oilers built a four-goal lead in the second period.
Connor McDavid had two assists and Stuart Skinner stopped 25 shots.
Photo: AFP
Nicolas Roy scored in the third period for Vegas. Adin Hill stopped 29 shots in his first NHL playoff start after playing minutes in the two previous games of the series.
Game 5 of the best-of-seven series is scheduled for today in Las Vegas, while Game 6 is to be in Edmonton on Sunday.
Golden Knights defenseman Alex Pietrangelo took a major and a game misconduct with less than 90 seconds remaining.
After Leon Draisaitl shot wide of an empty net, Pietrangelo slashed the Oilers’ forward across the arms.
It capped a penalty-filled third period, with all the infractions made in the final 10 minutes.
Vegas’ Chandler Stephenson and Jonathan Marchessault were assessed misconducts, along with Edmonton’s Kailer Yamamoto and Evander Kane earlier in the period.
Also, the Golden Knights’ Nicolas Hague and the Oilers’ Darnell Nurse were sent off for fighting, with Nurse also getting an instigator penalty and a misconduct.
Vegas’ Brett Howden also received a misconduct with 25 seconds remaining.
Bjugstad, coming off Edmonton’s bench, forced a turnover by Shea Theodore in the offensive zone.
In Sunrise, Florida, Joseph Woll stopped 24 shots in his first playoff start, while Mitch Marner and William Nylander had the goals as the Toronto Maple Leafs staved off elimination by beating the Florida Panthers 2-1 in Game 4 of their Eastern Conference semi-final series.
Nylander was the beneficiary of an odd bounce for a power-play score in the second period, Marner scored midway through the third and Woll did the rest as he took the place of injured starter Ilya Samsonov.
Sam Reinhart scored for Florida, who got 23 saves from Sergei Bobrovsky.
The Panthers lead the series 3-1, with Game 5 in Toronto today.
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