LAS VEGAS, NV – Putting a ‘Kap’ on this series to send us back to the Western Conference Final.
Kasperi Kapanen scored the series-winning goal in overtime, and Stuart Skinner made 24 saves for his second straight shutout as the Edmonton Oilers eliminated the Vegas Golden Knights from the Second Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in five games with a 1-0 victory in Game 5 at T-Mobile Arena.
“There are probably a lot of people who thought it was gonna go longer than five games, and probably not a lot of people who thought we would win,” Connor McDavid said. “It’s nice to keep on rolling and keep on proving people wrong, and we got a lot of belief in this room. It’s fun to be part of.”
After not suiting up until Game 4 of the series, Kapanen notched his second career overtime-winning goal in the playoffs and his first tally for the Oilers since Jan. 24 with his second effort on a mad scramble inside the Vegas crease, jamming home the loose puck on the rebound from Darnell Nurse’s attempt from the slot at 7:19 of overtime to send the Oilers to the Western Conference Final for the third time in four seasons.
“I think that pretty much summed up the whole game today,” Kapanen said. “There weren’t too many Grade-A chances, but I’m just happy it went in.”
Kapanen’s goal was the seventh OT series-deciding goal in Oilers franchise history and the first since Connor McDavid’s winner in Game 5 of the 2022 Second Round against the Calgary Flames, and first on the road since Todd Marchant’s Game 7 winner in the 1997 First Round against the Dallas Stars.
Stuart Skinner answered his critics for the second straight game with 24 saves to secure clean sheets in back-to-back contests, going perfect in Games 4 & 5 with a combined 46 saves to eliminate the Golden Knights and improve to 5-1 with a 1.97 GAA and .926 SV% in series-clinching scenarios.
“Hopefully, it shuts a lot of people up who were talking about him, but we’ve always believed in him,” McDavid said of his team’s netminder. “He comes in and pitches two shutouts. I can’t say enough good things.”
“I don’t think I want to do it like this too often, but it happens,” Skinner added. “It’s the nature of the game, it’s the nature of the position that I’m in, but being able to come back in no matter what the scenario is and having that resiliency in me is something that I can be proud of. So much of it has to do with how the guys are playing in front of me. The way they’d played ever since I came back was impressive.”
The Oilers advance to the Conference Final for the 12th time in franchise history and will face either the Dallas Stars or Winnipeg Jets for the chance to compete in the Stanley Cup Final for the second year in a row.
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