Henrique scored his first only 1:27 into the first period off the hard work put in by Connor Brown off an offensive-zone faceoff to take the puck off a Vegas defenceman below the goal line and get in front for his centre to finish top shelf for an early 1-0 lead.
Henrique notched his second goal of the night with a sweet through-the-legs finish from inside the blue paint over half a period later, beating Adin Hill under the arm before Evander Kane was guided into the Vegas netminder with a cross-check from Brayden McNabb that set off the fireworks in Game 4.
That only played to Edmonton’s strengths, as the frustration was starting to show in Hill and the Golden Knights from their in-your-face approach to Game 4 on Monday, while the Oilers looked locked in every facet during an opening frame in which they took a 2-0 lead and held a 15-5 advantage in shots.
Evander Kane had a team-leading six hits playing his imposing style on a line with Henrique and Brown, scoring his fourth of the playoffs to extend the Oilers lead to 3-0 lead in the second period on an odd-man rush that was created from Connor McDavid to make it eight straight playoff games with an assist for the captain. The Oilers also improved to 15-2 in the postseason when Kane finds the scoresheet.
Stuart Skinner made an important save against Ivan Barbashev on a breakaway in the first period that could’ve swung the momentum back in Vegas’ favour, along with helping the Oilers kill off three penalties by keeping the Golden Knights’ power play to only two shots with Edmonton protecting a 2-0 lead.
Skinner was terrific to record his second-career playoff shutout in his second straight start since the injury to Calvin Pickard, and looks set to deliver in another potential series-clinching game for the Oilers where he’s 4-1 with a 2.41 goals-against average & .912 save percentage in his career.
“All I can really say is thanks to the guys playing in front of me. They were amazing tonight,” Skinner said after Monday’s win. “They made my job a lot easier. They were battling and blocked a lot of shots, and the way that we played defensively was superb. So a lot of credit to the guys.”
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