Golden Knights spoil four-goal game by Oilers' Leon Draisaitl with 6-4 win

For the second night in a row in the NHL playoffs, a player's four-goal game wasn't enough to win.

Tuesday night, Dallas Stars forward Joe Pavelski had a four-goal game in a 5-4 overtime loss to the Seattle Kraken.

Wednesday, Leon Draisaitl became the first Edmonton player since Hall of Famer Jari Kurri in 1987 to record a four-goal game in the playoffs. However, the Vegas Golden Knights held on to win 6-4 after a late-game Oilers mistake to take a 1-0 lead in the Western Conference playoff series.

"We overall weren't good enough," said Draisaitl, who took no joy in his individual effort. "It's not even close to how we successfully play. We've got to move on. We'll be better."

He scored twice in the first period with his second goal a thing of beauty. He was standing behind the goal line and banked in a shot off the back of Vegas goalie Laurent Brossoit.

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Draisaitl tied the game 3-3 less than two minutes into the third period, but the Golden Knights responded with goals 50 seconds apart by Ivan Barbashev and Chandler Stephenson to make it 5-3.

Draisaitl pulled Edmonton to within a goal at 8:33, but the Oilers didn't score again. Edmonton took a too many men on the ice penalty as goalie Stuart Skinner headed to the bench for an extra man.

Jack Eichel put the game away with an empty net goal.

“We’re aware of their top guys and the damage they can do, but we like our team," Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy said. "We feel that if our team plays well, then we can have success.”

Draisaitl's big game gave him an NHL-best 11 playoff goals, the most by an Oilers player through the first seven games of a postseason. He's just two goals behind last year's top playoff scorer, teammate Evander Kane, who had 13 goals in three rounds.

"Leon had a great effort," coach Jay Woodcroft said. "He's been good all playoffs, but our team can do things a lot better than we did tonight."

Oilers' Mattias Janmark injured in return to lineup

Oilers forward Mattias Janmark, who injured his foot in Game 1 of the first round, suited up for the first time since then, but lasted only six shifts.

He left the game in the first period after he lost his balance and fell awkwardly into the boards. He looked shaky as he was helped to the dressing room and didn't return.

The Oilers had dressed only 11 forwards for the game. Woodcroft didn't have an update on Janmark after the game.

Devils' Lindy Ruff reassures pulled goalie Akira Schmid

New Jersey Devils goalie Akira Schmid had a shutout in Game 7 against the New York Rangers, but he was pulled in the Carolina Hurricanes' 5-1 victory in Game 1 on Wednesday night.

He was replaced by Vitek Vanecek at 1:55 of the second period after Jesperi Kotkaniemi scored to make it 3-0. The move was more to shake things up after the Devils were limited to one shot in the first period.

"I gave him a fist bump to the blocker when I walked by him (after the game) to let him know it had nothing to do with him," coach Lindy Ruff said.

Schmid made eight saves on 11 shots and Vanecek stopped 10 of 11. Schmid was pulled in Game 6 vs. the Rangers before responding with a 31-save effort in the clincher.

Asked if we would go back to Schmid in Game 2 on Friday, Ruff said, "That's a question for tomorrow."

Thursday's NHL playoff games

Florida Panthers at Toronto Maple Leafs, 7 p.m. ET, TNT. Panthers lead series 1-0

Seattle Kraken at Dallas Stars, 9:30 p.m. ET, TNT. Kraken lead series 1-0

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Oilers' Leon Draisaitl scores four goals, but Golden Knights win