Does it count as a come behind victory when you lead for most of the night? The Oilers fell behind on an early powerplay goal, then fired back for their own lead. Vegas rallied to tie the game but Edmonton delivered the gut punch in a dramatic overtime finish.

Both teams came into Thursday’s matchup firing on all cylinders. Vegas had a chance early but missed an open net tap-in, and McDavid nearly pulled off a soccer play juggling the puck with his feet through the Vegas defence.

Trent Frederic got called for a trip early; Edmonton was so close to killing the penalty until Henrique threw the puck over the glass with one second remaining. The Knights proceeded to score quickly off a give-and-go one timer while Edmonton scrambled off the 5-on-3 faceoff draw.

The score remained 1-0 Vegas in the first, despite both teams trading rush chances for the better part of five minutes. Connor Brown rung the crossbar, but no equalizer.

Period two didn’t get off to an amazing start; Edmonton’s away power play record this playoffs is a whopping 0-9. The Oilers did not improve this stat, instead extending it to 0-10 after Nurse was high sticked.

The Oilers finally broke through Adin Hill 32 minutes into the game, courtesy of Jake Walman. Soon after, Edmonton lost control of the puck in center ice and Vegas pounced on the breakway. Calvin Pickard made a spectacular save – his best of the night – to keep Edmonton in the game, and it immediately paid off. Vasily Podkolzin gained possesion of the puck in the neutral zone and found his way into the high slot to fire a wrist shot right over Adin Hill’s glove. It was Podkolzin’s first goal of this playoffs, and Edmonton’s first lead of the night.

During a 4-on-4 the Edmonton top lined whittled the Vegas defence down for 90 seconds; Vegas was able to clear the puck, but Leon Draisaitl maintained possession and re-entered the zone. Draisaitl found Darnell Nurse right in center ice to make the game 3-1. However, the Golden Knights were quick to respond. A redirect through Pickard’s five hole brought the game back to within one, and gave Las Vegas some much needed momentum.

But that momentum didn’t last for long. Two minutes into the third period Zach Hyman battled his way into the Vegas zone, and after a give-and-go sequence with Ryan Nugent Hopkins, made the pass to Evander kane who got a lucky bounce between Adin Hill’s right pad and his flailing goalie stick. 4-2 Edmonton.

Vegas was able to strike back quickly after Connor McDavid took a high stick penalty. Edmonton has taken a lot of high stick penalties this series, and Vegas has been able to retaliate on almost all of them. The Oilers need to control their sticks better going forward.

The Knights continued to pressure Edmonton through the third. The Oilers couldn’t clear their own zone cleanly while under fire from the relentless Vegas forecheck. Things got worse when Tomas Hertl fell onto Calvin Pickard’s left leg. No goaltender interference was called on the play, and Vegas scored on a low hanging shot from the blue line shortly after to tie the game and send game 2 into overtime.

Overtime was all Las Vegas until Nicolas Roy crosschecked Trent Frederic square in the nose, completely unprovoked. It was a bizarre play that lead to a five minute powerplay for the Oilers. The Knights penalty kill was up to the task, keeping Edmonton to a couple low grade shots and not much more.

Alex McNabb got injured during an entanglement with Viktor Arvidsson deep in the Oilers zone. Arvidsson’s stick got inbetween McNabb’s legs, and the can opener sent him shoulder first into the boards. McNabb looked very distraught, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see him in the press box next game. Edmonton wasn’t penalized on the play, much to the justified chagrin of the fans down in Las Vegas – it should have been a penalty for the Golden Knights.

The Edmonton Oilers finally ended overtime when Connor McDavid and Leon Drasiaitl were given both time, space, and distance on the Vegas defence to make an easy one-two punch to seal the deal with the game winning goal. Edmonton now leads the series 2-0 and holds a healthy home ice advantage heading back to Alberta.

This game was a sloppy win. Edmonton’s inability to clear the puck out of the zone cost them a two goal lead, and it almost cost them the game. Not only that, but this was a terrible game for the first line. Connor McDavid was a turnover machine, Leon was skating through quicksand, and the powerplay had no points on three penalties (one of them being a five minute major).

With that being said, McDavid and Draisaitl scored the OT game winner – so I guess a win is a win, no matter how ugly the first line plays for the first 75 minutes.

The offensive depth scoring continues to be the difference in this series. Vegas has the clear edge on the specialty teams, so it’s on Edmonton to keep their sticks on the ice going forward into game 3 when they look to extend their series lead to three on Saturday.