Edmonton Oilers left winger Evander Kane should give a tutorial on irritating the Vegas Golden Knights.
Facing a team based in a city that’s all about extravagance and swagger, Vegas certainly met its match in the Oilers’ Kane on and off the ice.
“Evander, I saw you rolled up in Vegas in a Rolls-Royce – you scored a goal,” longtime NHL veteran Pat Maroon told Kane on NHL on TNT after Game 4 against Vegas Monday night. “And I saw you roll up in a Rolls-Royce tonight. Is that something you thought about going into Game 4? You superstitious?”
Kane responded: “I rolled up in a Ferrari for Game 3, and that didn’t work, so I said I wanted to go back to the Rolls.”
Kane’s impact came in multiple ways in Edmonton’s 3-0 win over the Golden Knights to take a commanding 3-1 series lead.
Not only did he throw hits all night long, but he drove the net and crashed into Adin Hill after Adam Henrique’s second goal of the game, which sparked a mini-melee. But Kane wasn’t done there.
Kane beat Hill with a wrist shot in the second period that sealed the victory, bringing Kane up to five points in eight playoff games since his return to the lineup. Vegas only held him off the scoresheet in Game 3.
“He loves the big pressure games – when there’s a lot on the line, he just loves the pressure and level of play, and just the amount of physical play and scoring a big goal for us, crashing the net, winning puck battles, he’s contributing a lot to our team,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said post-game.
Kane’s been an important part of the Oilers’ offense from players not named Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl. Kane’s 27 individual scoring chances in all situations are the fourth-most on the team, according to naturalstattrick.com.
Not bad from a player who missed the entire regular season due to injury.
Avry Lewis-McDougall goes in deeper on Evander Kane’s impact in Game 4’s win and his “muscle car” play this post-season for the Oilers in his latest video column.
Get the
latest news and trending stories by following The Hockey News on Google News and by
subscribing to The Hockey News newsletter here. And share your thoughts by commenting below
the article on THN.com.
Read the full article here
