Oilers seek redemption against Golden Knights ahead of Game 1 in West 2nd Round

EDMONTON -- Connor McDavid said he believes the Edmonton Oilers are better equipped to face the Vegas Golden Knights in the Western Conference Second Round than they were two seasons ago.

The six-game loss to Vegas in the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs stung the Oilers and their captain, considering they had the lead in Game 5 with the series tied 2-2 and let it slip away to the eventual Cup champions.

Edmonton is looking forward to its shot at redemption starting with Game 1 of the best-of-7 series at T-Mobile Arena on Tuesday (9:30 p.m. ET; ESPN, TVAS).

“Certainly, we’re more experienced. If that puts us in a better spot, great,” McDavid said Sunday. “It’s definitely helpful when you’re going up against a veteran team like Vegas who is also more experienced and played a lot of playoff hockey and played in big moments. It’s two experienced groups going at it.”

In 2023, Game 5 in Vegas proved to be the turning point in the series. Edmonton led 2-1 on first-period goals from McDavid and Zach Hyman and were in control through the middle of the second.

However, a holding penalty assessed to defenseman Philip Broberg at 12:49 and a high-sticking minor to forward Mattias Janmark 44 seconds later put the Golden Knights on a two-man advantage.

Forwards Mark Stone and Reilly Smith then scored power-play goals 29 seconds apart to give Vegas a 3-2 lead. A goal by forward Nicolas Hague a minute later made it 4-2 going into the third period.

McDavid scored on the power play at 2:40 of the third to make it 4-3, but that was as close as Edmonton would get. The Oilers were eliminated with a 5-2 loss at home in Game 6 two nights later.

Vegas then defeated the Dallas Stars in the Western Conference Final and the Florida Panthers in the Final to win the Stanley Cup.

“It’s difficult anytime you lose in the playoffs, especially when you feel you had a good team,” McDavid said. “We felt we had a good team then, and obviously they had a great team as well. We feel like we have another good team this year and we have as good a chance as anyone. We look forward to getting to Vegas and getting started.”

This season, Edmonton advanced by defeating the Los Angeles Kings in six games in the first round, and Vegas also needed six games to eliminated the Minnesota Wild.

Edmonton has played five playoff series since losing to Vegas in 2023, winning four of them. The Oilers, advanced to the Stanley Cup Final last season, where they lost 2-1 in Game 7 to the Panthers.

“You learn from your failures and that [Vegas loss] was one of them,” McDavid said. “Definitely we changed some things systemwise from that series, but it was a good learning experience, for sure.”

The Oilers applied the lessons from the loss to the Golden Knights last season and are looking to put that knowledge to good use again. Edmonton was able to battle back from 2-0 series deficit against Los Angeles and win four consecutive games.

“I guess just managing the game better, understanding certain situations,” McDavid said. “I think about that Game 5 (against Vegas), we had the lead and we found ourselves in a 5-on-3 and we can’t put ourselves in that position. We had to grab it there and gave up three in however minutes and the game kind of flipped. Those are all learning lessons along the way, and hopefully we can use them moving forward in this series.”

Edmonton was a playoff savvy team going into the series against Vegas in 2023, having made it to the Western Conference Final the previous season before being swept by the Colorado Avalanche.

The Oilers are now a battle-hardened team after nearly winning the Stanley Cup last season.

“They’re a division rival and they beat us and went on to win the Cup, so we definitely want to even things up,” Hyman said. “It’s different teams and different players, but it’s the same core I guess, and we want to beat them, obviously.

“That [2023 series], it’s over and in the past. You want to win every series, but when you lose against a team you want to win it the next time.”

Vegas is expected to present a different challenge to Edmonton than Los Angeles did in the first round. The Kings were passive defensively, looking for opportunities off turnovers. The Golden Knights are expected to press the issue a little harder.

“They’re both really good teams and completely different, really,” Hyman said. “Vegas scores lots off the rush, they’re really dangerous in transition. L.A. was, too. We have to give L.A. credit, they scored a bunch off the rush, so we have to be really careful at the [blue] lines and make sure we have guys going back. They also play a completely different [defensive] zone, one plays man-on-man and the other kind of zone, so it’s different.”

Edmonton had a number of players recovering from injury heading into the series against Los Angels, and it took a while for the team to find its rhythm.

Going into Vegas, Edmonton is healthy, with the exception of defenseman Mattias Ekholm, who was ruled out of the series by coach Kris Knoblauch because of an undisclosed injury. Ekholm did not play against the Kings.

“I think Games 1 and 2 were definitely clunky with a lineup that hadn’t played together a whole lot,” McDavid said. “I think we’re getting more in the rhythm of things, guys are getting healthier and healthier and getting their timing back. It’s starting to look a little bit more like it’s supposed to look. I don’t think our game has been perfect, we still have a ways to go, and I expect our best coming into this series.”