Vegas tops Edmonton despite return of Connor McDavid

Vegas' Noah Hanifin scored two goals in the third period, including the game-winner in the final minute, as the Golden Knights earned their first road win of the season, 4-2, over the host Edmonton Oilers and Connor McDavid.

Hanifin, who scored three points in Saturday's 4-3 win over Utah Hockey Club, made it 2-0 in the third period with a long-range shot that came through a screen at 10:05.

Then the defender scored the winning goal from the left circle after a pass from Ivan Barbashev in 49 seconds to make it 3-2.

Mark Stone scored his sixth goal into an empty net with four seconds left to give Vegas its sixth win in its last seven games (6-1-0), improving the club to 8-1-0 against the Western Conference.

Jack Eichel scored a goal and two assists, while Barbashev had three assists. Goalkeeper Adin Hill stopped 27 shots.

McDavid missed three games after suffering an ankle injury in the first 37 seconds at the Columbus Blue Jackets on October 28. He was originally expected to be out for two to three weeks.

But the three-time Hart Trophy winner as league MVP completed an optional skate with his teammates on Monday and entered the lineup on Wednesday. He had two shots on goal in 21:02 of ice time.

Brett Kulak and Zach Hyman scored Edmonton's goals. Stuart Skinner made 31 saves as the club fell to 2-5-1 on home ice.

While all eyes in the home crowd were on No. 97 as he returned to the ice at the start of the contest, Eichel scored the first shot of the game after a deft pass from Shea Theodore through the neutral zone.

One-on-one with Skinner, Eichel, the next pick in the 2015 draft after McDavid went No. 1 overall, beat the goalie in one direction and easily scored his fourth goal on the goalie's glove side at 16:05 to a 1-0 lead.

In a much more productive next offensive period, the Oilers gained zone possession and fired eight of the first 10 shots of the second at Hill in the first four minutes, but were unable to beat him.

However, the pressure finally paid off at 12:18 when Kulak, leading the way, redirected Darnell Nurse's long one-timer for his third goal.

Hyman gave Edmonton its first lead in four games (having not scored one in the Oilers' first 10 games) with his third goal in four games, knocking down an odd rebound off the post to make it two with 4:04 left in the second :1 increased.

–Field level media