3 takeaways: Knights clinch playoff berth despite loss to Oilers

Soft cheers echoed throughout T-Mobile Arena when in-arena host Mark Shunock said the Golden Knights punched their ticket to the postseason yet again.

Meanwhile, Edmonton Oilers fans who stayed well after the final horn cheered and chanted after a win over their team’s biggest rival.

The Knights have at least checked off one of their preseason goals, but they would’ve liked to celebrate this accomplishment with a victory. Instead, they had their six-game winning streak end in a 3-2 loss to the Oilers on Tuesday.

It’s the seventh time in their eight-year history the Knights will be playing hockey into the spring. The only time they haven’t was the 2021-22 season — the year before coach Bruce Cassidy was hired.

The Knights are back in the playoffs for the third straight year under Cassidy, a feat no Knights coach has accomplished before.

They can thank the Utah Hockey Club for the help. Utah defeated the Calgary Flames 3-1 to clinch for the Knights before the Oilers game was decided.

“Three years in a row, that’s the objective here, I think. This team is, to me, a playoff team that should be in the playoffs,” Cassidy said. “We’re going to be happy we’re in, but that’s not our ultimate goal, nor should it be. Especially a night like tonight, we’d rather have done it with a win.”

Right wing Pavel Dorofeyev had a goal and an assist, and center Nicolas Roy scored for the Knights (45-21-8) in their first loss since March 16. Goaltender Adin Hill made 17 saves.

It didn’t look that way early on. The Knights dominated the opening 20 minutes, outshooting the Oilers 10-1 through the first 18 minutes.

One of those shots was Roy’s goal at 4:34 to open the scoring. Dorofeyev forced a turnover in the neutral zone, started the rush and found the trailing Roy for a one-timer.

Things unraveled in the second.

The Oilers (43-26-5) scored three unanswered goals, starting with defenseman Jake Walman’s first since being traded to Edmonton from the San Jose Sharks on March 6. His blast from the left circle came 18 seconds into the frame.

Consecutive penalties on left wing Victor Olofsson and defenseman Brayden McNabb gave the Oilers a five-on-three at 15:46.

Even without captain Connor McDavid, the Oilers still had the league’s leading goal scorer at their disposal. Center Leon Draisaitl fired home a one-timer from the right circle at 16:03 for his 52nd goal to make it 2-1.

“When you don’t make them come 200 feet, they can just play with the puck and have a free-for-all, they’re going to make plays,” left wing Brandon Saad said. “We know we’re better than that.”

Edmonton added one more at 18:20 when right wing Viktor Arvidsson poked a puck through Hill, who appeared to cover it to force an icing. Arvidsson continued to poke through with no whistle blown before it passed the goal line to make it 3-1.

Cassidy challenged the play for interference, but it was upheld.

“The whistle should’ve went. It’s under his pad,” Cassidy said. “That’s what should’ve happened. There’d be no need to challenge, no need for anything.”

The Knights killed the ensuing Edmonton power play, a moment when Cassidy said they started to play better. Dorofeyev got them closer on a point shot through traffic at 2:35 of the third to make it 3-2.

The Knights took over in the third. They had chances to tie, both off the stick of Dorofeyev late, but couldn’t find the equalizer.

“It shows we’re capable,” Saad said of bouncing back in the third. “We know that, but you can’t take periods off with teams of that caliber. We’ll regroup.”

The Knights became the third team in the Western Conference, joining the Winnipeg Jets and Dallas Stars, to clinch a postseason spot.

The attention now turns to the Pacific Division, and this loss trimmed the Knights’ cushion. The Los Angeles Kings won 4-1 against Winnipeg to narrow the Knights’ lead to five points. Edmonton trails by seven.

All three teams have eight games to go.

The Knights won’t celebrate tonight, but maybe on Wednesday.

“The guys should be proud because it doesn’t happen every year,” Cassidy said. “There’s teams that are close and miss, so it’s not automatic. Our expectation is we’ll be there and compete for the Cup, and I’d like to think this year will be a year we do that.”

Three takeaways from the loss:

1. Roy line provides offense

It was the fourth game for the new-look second line with Roy in place of center Tomas Hertl, who is out this week as he recovers from an upper-body injury.

The line found the offense after looking mostly ineffective during the Knights’ three-game road trip. Roy and Dorofeyev provided the points, while left wing Brandon Saad was a plus-2 in 15:42.

“We’ve had some good looks and some chances,” Saad said. “We didn’t score on our opportunities on the road, but coming back, it’s good to contribute.”

Roy felt they found some chemistry in Saturday’s 3-1 win in Nashville. That carried over in a big way Tuesday.

2. Stone hits 700

Captain Mark Stone appeared in his 700th game Tuesday in what was also his 60th game of the season.

Stone played his 334th game with the Knights dating back to when he was acquired from the Ottawa Senators in February 2019.

It was a quiet night for Stone’s line with center Jack Eichel and left wing Ivan Barbahsev. They combined for three shots, two of them from Eichel, while each was a minus-2.

3. Pickard plays Knights

If Calvin Pickard’s name sounds familiar, think back to the 2017 expansion draft.

The 32-year-old was the Knights’ first ever expansion draft selection, chosen from the last-place Colorado Avalanche. Pickard was one of three goalies selected, along with J-F Berube and Marc-Andre Fleury.

Pickard finished with 20 saves. He got the start in place of the injured Stuart Skinner, who is out with a concussion.

His biggest stop was on Dorofeyev on a six-on-five with with 1:43 remaining, getting a pad on his shot from the right circle.

Contact Danny Webster at dwebster@reviewjournal.com. Follow @DannyWebster21 on X.