It was apparent from the start Monday night, the tenaciousness of the Edmonton Oilers fighting for and taking pucks away from the Vegas Golden Knights. That battle paid off early in Game 4 of their second-round National Hockey League playoff series, with Connor Brown doing just that: stripping defenceman Zach Whitecloud of the puck from behind and feeding linemate Adam Henrique for the first goal – and eventual winner – just 1:27 into the game. And it continued through to the end, the Oilers shutting out their Pacific Division rivals 3-0 to take a three-games-to-one lead in their best-of-seven series, its potential decisive game Wednesday in Nevada. “The guys were dialed in tonight. They knew it was a big game,” Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch told media after the game, adding the disappointment in the way the previous game ended – on an own goal by Leon Draisaitl with a fraction of a second left in the game for a Vegas victory – stuck in the craw of the players. “They knew that they had to step it up tonight.” Up and down the lineup, from star Draisaitl taking on a shutdown role against the Golden Knights’ top line featuring Jack Eichel (arguably the National Hockey League’s best two-way player) to the insertion by Knoblauch of winger Kasperi Kapanen and defenceman Troy Stecher for the pair’s first playoff action this season, the Oilers brought it until the final horn, Vegas’s net empty for an extra attacker for almost a quarter of the final period. “It’s important just being able to use everybody in all situations, I think,” Knoblauch said of rolling every forward line and defensive pairing. “For a player, it’s easier to get involved in the play or game and just continue on, rather than (thinking) ‘Am I going now? Am I sitting here?’” Oilers defenceman Jake Walman said after the game when the team plays its “best hockey” when everyone is physical. “We’re coming out banging and all four of our lines, all three ‘D’ pairs, can do it that way,” said Walman, a trade-deadline addition to the team from the San Jose Sharks. “It’s probably one of the identities of our team, just get on forecheck, making it hard on them.” The notable Oilers buzzsaws on this night were wingers Kapanen and Vasily Podkolzin, and the pesky Zach Hyman and Evander Kane, the first two linemates of Draisaitl’s assigned to clamp down on Eichel and Co., the latter in as top a form as in any playoff game he’s played as an Oiler. And that’s saying something because Kane, who scored a goal and notched an assist on one of linemate Henrique’s two goals Monday night, was a definite difference-maker for Edmonton in their 2022 and 2023 playoff runs before injury slowed him down last season in their run to the Stanley Cup final. Hyman and Kane crashed the Golden Knights’ net, manned by goalie Aidan Hill, often on Monday night, the chips and chirps – never mind the netmider’s agitated reactions over the first half of the game – evident whether in the spotlight or behind the play. “We take pride,” Kane said post-game. “We know it’s tough to get to Vegas’s net. They have two men deep in there, just kind of standing by the net the entire time ... “We want to (go to the net) hard, play by the rules and not have goals disallowed, so that’s important.” Knoblauch said Kane – who returned to the Oilers lineup in the second game of their first-round series with the Los Angeles Kings after missing the regular season recovering from surgeries – thrives on pressure. “Evander’s a gamer,” Knoblauch said. “He loves the big pressure games, and when there’s a lot on the line, he just loves the pressure, the level of play, and the physical play ... He’s contributing a lot to our team.”
