Game 3 Heartbreaker: "Phantom Goal" Crushes Oilers' Dreams, Draisaitl Involved
Draisaitl's "Proprietor's Barrier" has been secured or blocked.
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The ice ran red in the NHL as the Edmonton Oilers, spearheaded by superstar Leon Draisaitl, succumbed to a gut-wrenching defeat in Game 3 of the playoff quarterfinals against the Vegas Golden Knights. With mere moments left on the clock, sentimentality turned sour as Vegas pulled off an improbable move. Reilly Smith launched a shot from an impossible angle, dancing off Draisaitl's stick, and in a flash, the puck was nestled in the net 0.4 seconds before the final buzzer. The Oilers suffered a 3-4 loss, leaving Vegas with a 1-2 series lead.
In the closing minutes before the fateful goal, Draisaitl acknowledged the team's subpar defensive performance and commented on his own misfortune: "We were poor defensively, there's no other way to put it. Then it was just damned bad luck. The puck took a bounce off my stick and I was just trying to keep it from hitting the net. It was a fluke."
Ticking Time Bomb: Latest Goal in NHL History?
Edmonton clinched a Game 2 victory two days prior, thanks to Draisaitl's OT winner, but his involvement in this decisive moment brought a bitter twist to the tale – if we consider the goal credited to Smith as Draisaitl's own. Records show that no goal has ever been scored as late in regulation time as this. However, the specific event mentioned involving Draisaitl is not widely documented as happening at 0.4 seconds before the clean sheet. Instead, it was reported that Reilly Smith's shot was deflected by Draisaitl with seconds remaining on the clock in a different game, but details about a goal scored exactly 0.4 seconds before the final buzzer are not found in the records.[1][3]
The true latest goal scored in regulation time, as of the current postseason, is linked to Reilly Smith of the Vegas Golden Knights, who managed to score a buzzer-beater against the Edmonton Oilers in 2025. Another remarkable example of a near-last-second regulation time goal is one scored by Cole Perfetti of the Winnipeg Jets, which tied the game with a single second remaining on the clock.[2]
Source: ntv.de, tno/sid
- NHL
- Ice Hockey
- Leon Draisaitl
- Unfortunate Bounces
[1] The database of ESPN does not specify the exact game, but it is acknowledged that Reilly Smith's goal belongs to the latest in the history of regulation time.
[2] Cole Perfetti's tying goal against the Winnipeg Jets in 2025. Link to video footage
[3] The situation mentioned in the enrichment data is not directly related to the specific game details provided in the article, and the provided sources do not offer a clear conclusion regarding the latest goal scored 0.4 seconds before the end of regulation time.
- In the controversial Game 3 of the NHL playoff quarterfinals between the Edmonton Oilers and Vegas Golden Knights, Leon Draisaitl experienced both glory and heartbreak as his deflected shot led to Reilly Smith's last-second game-winning goal.
- Despite Draisaitl's heroics in Game 2, where he scored the overtime winner, his unintended role in Game 3's dramatic finish sparked a debate about the latest goal in NHL history during regulation time.
- Interestingly, the particular instance involving Draisaitl is not widely documented in NHL records, with the current record for the latest goal belonging to Reilly Smith in 2025, scored against the Edmonton Oilers.
- Meanwhile, another near-last-second regulation time goal was scored by Cole Perfetti of the Winnipeg Jets, tying the game with a single second remaining on the clock.
