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Connor McDavid has three assists in Oilers’ 4-3 win over Golden Knights

Oilers 4 Golden Knights 3
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Oilers 4 Golden Knights 3

EDMONTON — Very few teams can boast of a positive record against the Vegas Golden Knights this season, but the Edmonton Oilers are one.

Connor McDavid had three assists to improve his NHL-leading point total to 106 as the Oilers defeated the Golden Knights 4-3 on Thursday, improving to 3-1 on the season against the Pacific Division winners.

“Obviously to come from behind was nice, especially on a team like that which has been so good,” McDavid said. “To win the season series 3-1, it’s a little feather in our cap.”

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Matt Benning, Mike Cammalleri and Ty Rattie scored for the Oilers (35-40-6), who snapped a five-game losing skid.

“It is a little bit gratifying knowing you can play with some of those top teams, but obviously we didn’t play our top game enough this year to put ourselves where we want to be right now,” said Oilers goalie Cam Talbot, who made 30 saves to collect his 30th win of the season. “It is bittersweet getting a big win against a team like that which is in first place in your division, but after Saturday they keep playing and we don’t.”

Brayden McNabb, Brandon Pirri and Oscar Lindberg replied for the Golden Knights (51-23-7) who saw a three-game winning streak come to an end.

“We’ve been pretty good as of late,” McNabb said. “We’ve had a couple of stretches where we’ve had breakdowns, but that’s hockey. It happened, we have to keep building we have one more left and we’ll keep building for Game 1 of the playoffs.”

Edmonton started the scoring seven minutes into the opening period as McDavid started a three-way passing play that culminated in Nugent-Hopkins scoring his 23rd before Vegas goalie Malcolm Subban could get across the crease.

The Knights tied it up two minutes into the second period when McNabb took the puck at the point off a faceoff before dangling through traffic and beating Talbot.

Vegas took the lead three minutes later as Pirri elected to shoot on a two-on-one opportunity, scoring his third goal in just his second game up from the American Hockey League this season.

Benning’s shot from the slot went in after Subban got a piece of it as the Oilers tied it 2-2.

Edmonton went ahead 3-2 midway through the third on the power play as McDavid poked a puck away from a defender behind the net out front to Cammalleri, who notched his seventh.

McDavid picked up a third assist three minutes later, feeding the puck to Rattie picked the top corner for his fifth goal in 13 games with Edmonton.

Vegas got one back with five minutes to play in the third frame as Lindberg was left alone in the slot and beat Talbot.

The Golden Knights had a late power play on a bit of a phantom call, but Talbot made a huge skate save in the dying seconds to preserve the win.

Both teams close out regular season play on Saturday, with the Golden Knights in Calgary and the Oilers hosting the Vancouver Canucks.

Notes: It was the fourth and final meeting between the two squads this season, with Edmonton winning two of the first three… Defenceman Zack Whitecloud made his NHL debut for Vegas. The Brandon, Manitoba product signed as a free agent out of Bemidji State University on March 8… Making his debut as an Edmonton Oiler was defenceman Keegan Lowe, son of legendary Oilers blueliner Kevin Lowe… The Golden Knights had a depleted lineup, missing the likes of Jonathan Marchessault (undisclosed) David Perron (undisclosed), Reilly Smith (upper body), Erik Haula (undisclosed) and Luca Sbisa (undisclosed).

Shane Jones, The Canadian Press