Marchessault’s hat trick lifts Knights past Oilers and into West finals

EDMONTON, Alberta — Jonathan Marchessault scored three goals for his second career postseason hat trick as the Vegas Golden Knights beat the Edmonton Oilers 5-2 in Game 6 of their second-round series on Sunday night to advance to the Western Conference final.

Reilly Smith and William Karlsson also scored for the Golden Knights, and Ivan Barbashev had two assists. Adin Hill finished with 39 saves.

Connor McDavid and Warren Foegele scored early in the first period for Edmonton, which led 2-1 less than three minutes into the game. Stuart Skinner gave up four goals on 17 shots through two periods, and Jack Campbell stopped all four shots he faced in the third.

Vegas is back in the NHL semifinals for the fourth time in the franchise’s six-year history, and will next face the winner of the series between Dallas and Seattle, which heads to a Game 7 on Monday night.

The Oilers fell short of returning to the conference final for the second straight year after losing to eventual Stanley Cup champion Colorado a year ago.

Marchessault tied the score 2-2 at 4:26 of second period as the puck redirected off a skate in front of the crease and the right wing fired it into the opening as Skinner slid across the goalmouth to try to stop him.

Marchessault then put Vegas ahead at 7:44. After a slap shot by Alec Martinez deflected into the air off Skinner’s shoulder and landed on the goal line, Marchessault tapped it in.

Seconds after a Vegas power play expired late in the middle period, Marchessault completed his hat trick with a 4-on-4 goal with 1:24 remaining. His wrist shot from just above the hash marks on a cross-ice feed from Alex Pietrangelo beat Skinner far side.

Leon Draisaitl, who scored 13 goals in his first eight playoff games, and McDavid were reunited on the same line in the third period in an attempt to produce more offense. The Oilers generated several chances and McDavid rang a shot off the post.

Campbell was pulled for an extra attacker with over three minutes to play in the third, but Hill and the Golden Knights stood firm.

Karlsson sealed the win with an empty-netter in the final minute.

The Golden Knights held Edmonton’s vaunted power play to one scoreless chance in the second period. The Oilers, the NHL’s highest-scoring team in the regular season, was held to 10 goals over the last four games of the series.

The Knights also outscored Edmonton 17-10 even-strength.

Vegas got on the scoreboard first as Smith scored his second in two games off an Edmonton turnover in its own corner. Skinner cleared the puck along the boards into a pair of Vegas jerseys and the puck came out to Smith in the slot for a goal 24 seconds into the game.

McDavid tied it just 31 seconds later as he got a pass from Brett Kulak and beat Hill with a low shot far side under the goalie’s blocker.

Foegele put the Oilers ahead at 2:43 when he got a backhanded pass from Derek Ryan from behind the goal line and scored while driving to the net.

Both clubs had premier defensemen back in their lineups Sunday after they served one-game suspensions in Game 5 — Edmonton’s Darnell Nurse and Vegas’s Pietrangelo. The Oilers hadn’t forgotten Pietrangelo’s slash on Draisaitl at the end of Game 4, however, as both Draisaitl and Nick Bjugstad gestured at the Knights’ defenseman with their sticks during the game.