Unexpected sources lead Golden Knights to a shocking Game 3 win

After Connor McDavid tied the game at three with a little over three minutes in the game, you wouldn’t be blamed for thinking “Not again!”; think of the pain of Leon Draisaitl’s OT winner in Game 2 bubbling up to the surface. Then, with .04 seconds left, Reilly Smith banks a shot off Draisaitl’s stick into the net for a 4-3 win.

The series is 2-1, and the Vegas Golden Knights head into Monday night with something hard to come by in this series: Hope. Here are my three takeaways on a gutsy pre-Mother’s Day win in Edmonton.

Reilly Smith lights up Southern Alberta with banner night

Since getting the primary helper for Ivan Barbashev’s Overtime winner in Game 4 of the Minnesota series, Reilly Smith came into Game 3 pointless with more penalty minutes (four) than shots on goal (two). On Saturday night, he busted out for his first multi-goal game in the postseason since 2020 against Chicago.

It was for nights like these that Kelly McCrimmon brought Smith back to Vegas in February. If he can string more of these games together, the gap in depth between Edmonton and the Golden Knights shrinks considerably.

Vegas defense mounts strong defensive effort against hot Oilers team

It says a lot they could pull this kind of performance off, especially when one of the team’s top defensemen was (somehow) out there with basically one good arm for almost 20 minutes. After those two Corey Perry goals in the first, Edmonton were hard pressed the rest of the game to generate the kind of forward press they had at will in the first two games. Yeah, McDavid did his usual McDavid magic.

But Zach Hyman, Evander Kane, and Vasily Podkolzin were all banes for the Golden Knights in the first two games... All blanked by the tight, efficiently humming Vegas defense. Only Brayden McNabb had a negative plus/minus Saturday night, though given that he only moved his left arm a few times all game… That’s excusable!

It’s also not a coincidence that Adin Hill had his best game of the series after those two groaners of a goal in the first. He came up with key saves at points in the game, especially after the McDavid goal late in the third. That paved the road for Smith’s shocking winner. It’s been a long wait to see if he can string good games together. Maybe this Game 3 is just what the doctor ordered to make that happen?

Mark Stone leaves late in the first period to upper-body injury

Hidden deep in the four-goal first period that briefly pointed to a high-scoring game to come, Mark Stone left the game after seemingly inadvertently banging his head on Corey Perry’s knee after losing an edge. Currently, he’s not ruled out for Game 4 on Monday night.

Given what we saw with McNabb on Saturday night, that could change on a dime going into puck drop in Edmonton. If he is gone, it could spell big trouble for the Golden Knights on Monday night, especially with Corey Perry breaking through.

Next on the Marquee:

We’re back in Edmonton and its weird, fun outdoor conga lines on Monday at 6:30 P.M. Not seeing Calvin Pickard again in the Oilers' net would be a lovely sight, though it’s 50/50 that’ll be the case for Game 4. Either way, the important key for Vegas would be to keep the good juju with the steady defensive structure to get this back to Vegas even again. That and not seeing Stone and his injury luck pop up at the worst time. Until then…