Smith stops all 39 shots he faces as Oilers shut out Golden Knights 4-0

EDMONTON – Mike Smith made 39 saves for his second consecutive shutout as the Edmonton Oilers earned a 4-0 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday.

The Oilers are now six points up on Los Angeles for second place in the Pacific Division and seven points clear of Vegas.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had a goal Oilers (44-26-6) who are 14-3-2 in their last 19 games. Kris Russell, Cody Ceci and Warren Foegele also scored.

Logan Thompson made 32 saves for the Golden Knights (41-29-5), who have lost three of their last five.

Russell finally broke the scoreless deadlock for Edmonton 3:24 remaining in the first period. The veteran defenceman snuck in from the point and blasted a shot past Thompson for his first goal in 126 games.

It remained a one-goal game through 40 minutes, with Edmonton outshooting Vegas 26-25.

The Oilers made it 2-0 just 35 seconds into the third period as Ceci used a Jesse Puljujarvi screen to send a point shot past Thompson for his fifth of the season.

Edmonton extended its lead five minutes into the third as Foegele stole a puck from Alec Martinez at the Oilers blue line and took it all the way to the Vegas net to score his 12th of the campaign.

The Oilers kept on coming with a short-handed goal with 4:27 left in the third as Nugent-Hopkins poked the puck home after a great individual effort going to the net.

The Golden Knights return to the ice on Monday when they host to the New Jersey Devils. The Oilers are off until Wednesday, when they start a two-game trip in Dallas against the Stars.

Notes: Edmonton and Vegas both came into the game having scored 10 short-handed goals this season… Knights goalie Robin Lehner returned to Las Vegas on Friday due to a family health issue, with Jiri Patera coming in from Henderson of the AHL to back up Thompson for the game… Vegas was missing Laurent Brossoit (undisclosed), Nolan Patrick (undisclosed), Nicolas Hague (lower body), Reilly Smith (lower body), Brett Howden (upper body) and William Carrier (upper body)… Edmonton had its full regular lineup available.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 16, 2022.