Jack Eichel has been nothing short of electric for the Vegas Golden Knights in the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs, and he made team history after scoring three points in a crucial 4-3 Game 5 win against the Edmonton Oilers at T-Mobile Arena on Friday night.
Eichel scored his 11th, 12th and 13th points of the postseason, and now holds the record for most points by a Golden Knights player through 10 games of a playoff year in team history, besting Mark's Stone's 12 points in seven games in 2019, according to NHL Public Relations.
Through 10 contests, his 13 points are also fifth on the list of active players, behind just Eric Staal (14), and Sidney Crosby, David Pastrnak and Nathan MacKinnon (15).
It's been an excellent postseason for Eichel, who is making his Stanley Cup Playoffs debut after failing to play past the regular season with the Buffalo Sabres throughout the first six years of his career.
The Golden Knights entered the third period on Friday up 4-2, but facing 4:36 of a major penalty after Keegan Kolesar shoved Edmonton's Mattias Ekholm into the boards with 20.9 seconds left in the second period, earning him a five-minute major and a game misconduct.
Facing down the league's most lethal powerplay, Vegas was able to hold Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl's team to just one more goal, hanging on for the critical win.
“That could've been a turning point in the game big time, and we got through it,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said afterwards, per Associated Press. “Even though we lost the special teams battle three goals to two, I think in our minds we won.”
The series now shifts back to Edmonton for Game 6; the Oilers will play their first elimination game of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs after dispatching the Los Angeles Kings in six games in Round 1. They were swept by the Colorado Avalanche in the final four in 2022.
For Jack Eichel and the Vegas Golden Knights, it's an opportunity to reach their third Western Conference Final in the past four seasons.
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