Golden Knights at Oilers preview

GOLDEN KNIGHTS (38-24-8) at OILERS (37-24-8)
9 p.m. ET; TVAS, SNW, ATTSN-RM, NHL.TV

The center was a late scratch because he is ill.
Edmonton trails Vegas by two points for first place in the division.
The Oilers, who opened a four-game homestand with a 4-1 win against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday, have won four of their past five games.
The Golden Knights, who are playing the second game of a back-to-back following a 5-3 win at the Calgary Flames on Sunday, are 10-2-0 in their past 12 games.
Vegas and Edmonton have split their two prior games this season, with the Golden Knights winning the most recent game, 3-0 on Feb. 26.

Players to watch

Golden Knights forward Max Pacioretty has 11 points (six goals, five assists) in his past 10 games.
Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl has 11 points (six goals, five assists) in his past five games.

They said it

"It's a huge game. This is what we play for. You get huge games at the end of the year and you get a lot of meaning to them, and I think it's really important. It gives both groups a chance to be in a playoff-type atmosphere in a playoff-type game." -- Golden Knights defenseman Nate Schmidt
"We're a very confident team. We're very excited. Obviously, it's a great position to be in. We didn't get here by accident, we got here by hard work and playing to our details. We know for us to take that next step we have to continue to push ourselves and continue to get better. We don't want to get complacent with the place we're in, we want to get better."-- Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse

Golden Knights projected lineup

Jonathan Marchessault -- Paul Stastny -- Reilly Smith
Max Pacioretty -- William Karlsson -- Nicolas Roy
Brandon Pirri -- Chandler Stephenson -- Nick Cousins
William Carrier -- Tomas Nosek -- Ryan Reaves
Brayden McNabb -- Nate Schmidt
Alec Martinez -- Shea Theodore
Nick Holden -- Zach Whitecloud
Marc-Andre Fleury
Robin Lehner
Scratched:Deryk Engelland, Jon Merrill
Injured:Alex Tuch (leg), Mark Stone (lower body)

Oilers projected lineup

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins -- Leon Draisaitl -- Kailer Yamamoto
Tyler Ennis -- Gaetan Haas -- Zack Kassian
Andreas Athanasiou -- Riley Sheahan -- Josh Archibald
James Neal -- Jujhar Khaira -- Alex Chiasson
Darnell Nurse -- Ethan Bear
Oscar Klefbom -- Adam Larsson
Caleb Jones -- Kris Russell
Mikko Koskinen
Mike Smith
Scratched: Patrick Russell, Matt Benning
Injured:Connor McDavid (illness),Joakim Nygard (hand), Mike Green (knee)

Status report

Tuch, a forward who has missed the past 11 games, sustained a minor setback in his recovery and has returned to Las Vegas, according to coach Peter DeBoer. … Koskinen will start consecutive games for the second time since Dec. 31.

Stat pack

Karlsson has nine points (five goals, four assists) in his past seven games. … Nugent-Hopkins has 10 points (three goals, seven assists) during a five-game point streak. … Pacioretty has 66 points (32 goals, 34 assists) this season, one shy of tying his NHL career high, set with the Montreal Canadiens (2014-15, 2016-17).