Vegas Golden Knights head coach Bruce Cassidy offered up a straightforward assessment of his club's play through the last two periods of Tuesday's 4-2 Game 1 loss to the Edmonton Oilers.
"They elevated their game today, and I don't think we did halfway through the game," Cassidy said. "It's that simple. They were just better than us. You could almost - on the bench - see that we needed to string some positive shifts together to start the third, right?
"Because we got out of the second. They probably felt pretty good about it, they're like, 'Hey, we're right there.' Then they get a lucky one to start, so now they're really on. We needed to build our game from there better."
Vegas carried a one-goal lead heading into the first intermission after captain Mark Stone found the back of the net twice before the midway mark of the opening period. Though Corey Perry got Edmonton on the board, the shots were equal at 10-10.
However, Edmonton had the upper hand at five-on-five through the first 20 minutes, including a 10-8 advantage in scoring chances and a 5-2 edge in high-danger chances, per Natural Stat Trick.
That gap only widened in the second frame. Though no goals were scored, the Oilers dictated 62.1% of the shot attempts and 76.9% of the scoring chances at five-on-five.
Edmonton also had two power plays and outshot Vegas 12-1 overall in the period.
"The kill takes some energy against those guys," Cassidy said. "You're using your top guys, so that bleeds into your offensive ability after that. ... But we got through it. That was the good thing. We got through it, but unfortunately didn't do enough in the third to get it to go our way."
Oilers superstar Leon Draisaitl knotted the contest at 2-2 in the opening minute of the third period. Zach Hyman bagged the winner with just over three minutes remaining before Connor Brown added an insurance marker.
All four of Edmonton's unanswered goals came at five-on-five, and the club owned a 66.7% expected goals share at even strength through the entire contest.
"I think they have a great hockey team, but at the same time, I don't think we played up to our standard tonight," Vegas forward Brandon Saad said. "Obviously, they took advantage of it."
He added that the Golden Knights know the importance of Thursday's Game 2 after dropping the opener in Sin City.
"I think we can bounce back," Saad said. "We're confident in our group. We let that one slip away, which is tough, especially at home. But for us, I think there's no panic. It's just reset and get onto the next."
