3 takeaways: Knights rally past Oilers for 1st road win of season

It hasn’t been the kind of start to the season Noah Hanifin envisioned.

Ups and downs come with the territory, and the defenseman has acknowledged that. Others on the blue line have picked up the offense in the meantime.

The past two games have been Hanifin’s time to shine. On Wednesday, he got to play hero.

Hanifin scored twice in the third period, including the game-winner with 48.4 seconds remaining, to give the Golden Knights their first road win of the season, 4-2 over the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place.

“It was kind of starting to get into our heads a little bit,” Hanifin said on the Knights’ first road win in five games (1-3-1). “When you play on the road, you have to grind those games out.”

Hanifin had a three-point game Saturday against the Utah Hockey Club, which included his first goal of the season — a buzzer-beater at the end of the second period to tie it 2-2. The Knights went on to win 4-3 in overtime.

Once again, down one, Hanifin answered the call with a power-play goal at 10:05 to tie it 2-2.

The Knights (9-3-1) then took advantage of a defensive-zone breakdown from the Oilers (6-7-1) with time ticking down. Left wing Ivan Barbashev found a cutting Hanifin unprotected, and he scored glove side for the 3-2 lead with less than a minute to go.

Captain Mark Stone added the empty-netter with four seconds left.

Center Jack Eichel had a goal and two assists, and goaltender Adin Hill made 27 saves for the Knights’ sixth win in seven games.

“I thought we played well,” coach Bruce Cassidy said. “For our guys, that’s what it takes to win on the road.”

Hanifin’s slow start was uncharacteristic with just one assist, and he was a minus-3 in his first six games.

Since moving to the top pairing with Alex Pietrangelo on Oct. 22, Hanfin has seven points — three goals, four assists — and is a plus-9 at five-on-five.

“He just moves so well,” defenseman Brayden McNabb said. “He’s playing awesome right now, and it’s great to see.”

The Knights’ blue line is arguably the deepest in the league. Pietrangelo has 12 points in 13 games; Shea Theodore has 10 points in 12 games.

They acquired Hanifin, then signed him to an eight-year extension in April, for this kind of production.

The offensive production from the defensemen has been an “anything you can do, I can do better” situation. Right now, it’s Hanifin’s turn.

“I think in the third, we took it to them,” Hanifin said. “That was the difference.”

Here are three takeaways from the win:

1. Ending the road woes

It might have been the Knights’ best performance of the season given the situation.

They were outscored 18-11 in their first four games away from home. They didn’t play well defensively. Neither Hill nor Ilya Samsonov were put in ideal positions at times.

It came together Wednesday.

Hill had his best outing of the season in his fourth straight win. It was the first time he allowed fewer than three goals in a start. He had to make plenty of crucial saves to ensure that.

No bigger stop came than 1:38 into the third when Hill lunged to his right to make a diving stop on Oilers forward Viktor Arvidsson.

The Oilers got a boost with the return of captain Connor McDavid after he missed the past eight days with an ankle injury that was supposed to keep him out longer.

The Knights kept McDavid and center Leon Draisaitl off the score sheet, and the only goals allowed were a deflection by defenseman Brett Kulak and a fortuitous bounce that landed on the stick of forward Zach Hyman.

It was as good of a confidence booster as the Knights could ask for, for the team and its goaltender.

2. McNabb the iron man

McNabb became the Knights’ all-time leader in games played with his 515th appearance Wednesday, surpassing the mark once held by right wing Jonathan Marchessault.

McNabb has been deemed one of the more underrated players in the league by his teammates. He’s been a steady, reliable defenseman since the Knights selected him in the 2017 expansion draft from the Los Angeles Kings.

The original Misfit skated in his 191st consecutive regular-season game Wednesday, registering one shot in 20:03. He has not missed a regular-season game since March 26, 2022.

3. Hutton draws in

Veteran defenseman Ben Hutton made his season debut Wednesday in place of Nic Hague.

The 31-year-old had one shot in 13:18 while skating with Zach Whitecloud on the third pairing.

Hague, who returned Saturday following a three-game absence due to a lower-body injury, is day-to-day.