Oilers credit experience, depth as they set NHL playoffs record for consecutive comeback wins

Vegas Golden Knights center Tomas Hertl (48) and Edmonton Oilers right wing Vasily Podkolzin (92) collide during the first period of Game 1 of a second-round NHL hockey playoff series Tuesday, May 6, 2025, in Las Vegas. (John Locher/AP)

Why not five come-from-behind wins in a row? And in the playoffs, to boot?

That’s the record the Edmonton Oilers set with Tuesday night’s Game 1 win over the Vegas Golden Knights.

No other National Hockey League team had come from behind in five consecutive games to win until the Oilers beat the Golden Knights 4-2 in the second-round series’ opener in Las Vegas.

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Oilers star Connor McDavid attributes his team’s ability to make such comebacks to being “comfortable in those situations.”

“We’ve been there plenty of times,” said McDavid, whose two assists Tuesday gives the NHL’s leading playoffs scorer 13 points in seven games.

“It’s not necessarily the best position to put yourself in. We’ve got to work on getting off to better starts and not putting ourselves in that position, but we’ve shown that we can come back in games and win.

“It’s a great quality to have.”

Forward Connor Brown, who scored the insurance goal for the Oilers on Tuesday on a breakaway, said his team’s “well-rounded attack” has made a difference in the playoffs so far.

“It’s been key that we’ve been rolling four lines too, and keeping everyone involved, everyone in some sort of rhythm out there, too,” said Brown, who has scored four goals this postseason. “That’s massive, especially this time of year, when it gets tighter and tighter. Usually the inequalities get pushed down the lineup.”

The Oilers’ first four wins of the 2024-25 NHL playoffs came in the first round over the Los Angeles Kings, who they eliminated in six games.

Now they’re facing the Golden Knights, the Pacific Division’s top seed and the team that ousted the Oilers from the playoffs two years ago on their march to a Stanley Cup championship.

Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said he expects the Golden Knights to respond next game.

“We know that wasn’t their best,” he said of the Vegas performance in Game 1, in which Edmonton outshot them 28-17, including just one shot in the second period. “They’re going to be a little bit better tomorrow, but we have a pretty good understanding (of) how they’re going to play.”

Brown said as well as the Oilers played, the veteran Golden Knights lineup “really didn’t give us anything.”

“They’re not going to make any really egregious turnovers or things like that, so it’s important to just stay patient with their team, continue to hound, continue to roll the lines, continue to keep the tempo up,” he said. “We expect their best next game.”

McDavid, too, expects Vegas to bring their best and rise to the occasion in Thursday’s Game 2.

“We need to match that if not be more desperate,” he said. “It’d be huge to come away from here with two (wins).”