EDMONTON, ALBERTA — When you play sports, you are taught to play hard until the final whistle because every second counts. Just ask Reilly Smith, who pulled off a buzzer-beating goal to rescue the Golden Knights in game three, 4-3 on Saturday and are now down 2-1 in the series against the Edmonton Oilers.

“That was one of the craziest things I’ve ever seen in a hockey game,” Nicolas Hague said on the game winning goal.

The play begins with a Golden Knights clear, but instead of a dump in the Edmonton zone, William Karlsson decided to start a 1v3 rush, and while being harassed, centers the puck from behind the net to Smith.

After fooling two Oilers defenders with a slapshot, Smith gets a chance on netminder Stuart Skinner, who was completely outside of his crease, from the goal line. The puck would get deflected off the stick of Leon Draisaitl and hits the camera inside the net with 0.4 seconds left, which leaves the 18,347 fans in attendance at Rogers Place in a state of shock.  

“I saw a lot of guys sell out,” Smith said. “I just hoped that I had enough time to pump fake and find a lane and it worked out.” 

“You leave it all out there and the fractions of a second can break your heart or do the opposite. That’s kind of what happened,” Golden Knights’ head coach Bruce Cassidy said. 

On a night where you lose your team captain Mark Stone (upper-body injury) and are down by two goals early in the first period, you have to look elsewhere for answers if you are the Golden Knights, considering they could have faced 3-0 deficit in the series. 

“You can’t replace a guy like Mark Stone,” Smith said. “The best you can do is by committee, try to chip in and make up for not having him on the ice… Everyone just has to do a little bit more.” 

“I think we do a good job staying even keel and knowing we’re never out it,” Hague said. Working for the next goal… It’s always kind of been the mindset of this group.” 

This is when the original Golden Misfits (Smith and Karlsson) come into the picture.

The pair stepped up in every aspect tonight: driving to the net, finishing their forechecks and shooting pucks toward the net. Continuing to play on the same line, they posted four points (3 G, 1 A) and registered a total of seven shots. 

Vegas, looking to grab any momentum in a dangerous situation, did not start the game off the way they expected. Scoring a goal and an assist in the first two games, Oilers’ Corey Perry slithered to the left side of Adin Hill in the slot and buried the opening goal past the right pad. 

Even up 2-0, that is the first time the Oilers have scored first in the series. 

After killing off a Vegas power play, Edmonton returned the favor by going on the PP following a interference call on Zach Whitecloud. Perry, a former Stanley Cup champion with the Ducks in 2007, would once again light the lamp and score his 59th career playoff goal, deflecting Evan Bouchard’s one timer from the point.

As the ice began to look tilted, the Vegas fourth line dug deep and got themselves a greasy goal courtesy of Nicolas Roy off of Hague’s one-timer from the left hash marks. 

It’s worth noting that the goal wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for Keegan Kolesar stripping the puck from Draisaitl, which set up the rush.

Less than a minute later, Jack Eichel sprung a speedy Reilly Smith, leading to a hard drive to the net, fighting through two Oilers defenders, and goes backhand through the five-hole of Skinner, who got the start replacing an injured Calvin Pickard.

Struggling through the first two games of the series, Tomas Hertl fell short from scoring a few times including a missed empty net attempt, followed up by a failed wrap-around. He finished with the most shots on net for Vegas with six. 

Vegas would gather another offensive chance, going on 4v2 rush which ended with Karlsson finding the go ahead goal to make it three unanswered. After a failed first attempt entering the zone, the forward charged through the blue line, quickly passing to Noah Hanifin, setting up a give-and-go back to Karlsson who snapped it past the glove of Skinner.

“It’s not just tonight, it’s all the time,” Smith said when talking about the performance of his linemate. “He does everything right, he doesn’t cheat and he creates turnovers, and he creates offense through him just by himself.” 

Second in Golden Knights’ history in playoff goals with 31, Karlsson is now six goals away for the most in the franchise, chasing only Stone and Jonathan Marchessault. 

“He’s just a big piece of the puzzle for us,” Cassidy said calling Karlsson a coach’s dream”. “He plays in all situations and very reliable guy. 

Conner McDavid would tie the game late with a little over three minutes left in the final period on a fortunate deflection off the skate of Brayden McNabb, who made a surprising appearance in the starting lines after taking a scary fall in game two and didn’t practice in the two meetings before game three. 

After the game, Cassidy said that Mark Stone is considered to be day-to-day, but he hasn’t been ruled out for game five and they’ll know more about his status on Sunday.

The Golden Knights will look to steal both road games to even the series at two on Monday starting at 6:30 p.m. 

“We needed this win and we’re gonna need that next one too. One step in the right way,” Karlsson said. Â