PRE-GAME REPORT: Oilers vs. Golden Knights

The Edmonton Oilers host the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday afternoon in a critical Pacific Division battle at Rogers Place.
You can watch the game on Sportsnet West or listen live on the Oilers Radio Network, including 630 CHED.
Video: OILERS TODAY | Pre-Game vs VGK 04.16.22

YOUR GAME-DAY ESSENTIALS
GAME DAY VIDEO
OILERS TODAY | Pre-Game vs. VGK
PRE-GAME RAW | Coach Woodcroft
PRE-GAME RAW | Nugent-Hopkins
PRE-GAME RAW | Russell
RECENT VIDEOS
OILERS TODAY | Post-Game at NSH
HIGHLIGHTS:EDM 4, NSH 0
POST-RAW | Draisaitl 04.14.22
POST-RAW | Smith 04.14.22
BY THE NUMBERS
Oilers Statistics
Golden Knights Statistics
COMING SOON: Stats Comparison
COMING SOON: Game Notes
RECENT BLOGS & ARTICLES
GAME RECAP: Oilers 4, Predators 0
BLOG: No dwelling on defeat
GENE'S BLOG: Hart to Hart
VIEWING INFORMATION
You can watch Saturday's game on Sportsnet West at 2:00 PM MT.
EDMONTON, AB - It's as big as regular-season games come these days.
We're in the crunch time before the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and the Edmonton Oilers are set to entertain the Vegas Golden Knights in a playoff-charged showdown on Saturday afternoon at Rogers Place where two points in the Pacific Division race to the postseason will be on the line.
"We know it's a big game," forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins said. "Every game is a big game, but we know Saturday
The test of defeating the Golden Knights is not an easy one, with their lineup that includes Jack Eichel, Mark Stone, and Max Pacioretty up front returning to full health. They'll be missing Alec Martinez on the back end, but it's a dangerous defensive corps even in his absence that can move the puck into their forwards' hands and make their own rushes when given the opportunity.
"They've been a team since they've come into the league that plays the full 60," Russell added. "They play a heavy game, they've got a lot of speed, and they can make plays. They've got some guys on the back end that like to push the pace, so we're going to have to have our best."
Saturday's matinee has plenty of playoff implications and could also offer a glimpse at a potential first-round matchup in the Pacific Division. For the Oilers, Saturday is sure to be a benchmark game as they try to build on Thursday's shutout win against a division rival that will put their post-season readiness to the test.
"At this time of year every point is important, but this is a team that plays playoff-style hockey, so we want to prove to ourselves and to the league that we can play with these guys and keep growing our game into the playoffs," defenceman Kris Russell said.
"I thought we took a step there in Nashville coming off the game in Minnesota, so we're looking forward to tomorrow. It's obviously a big test and a team you could see in the future."
RUSSELL SETS THE TONE
Russell stepped into the lineup on Thursday for the first time in just over three weeks and wasted no time stepping into Mikael Granlund to fire up the Oilers bench with a big hit.
"We heard it from the bench," Nugent-Hopkins said. "It was quite the collision."
A D-to-D pass from the Nashville defencemen worked its way onto the backhand of Granlund, but Russell read the play and delivered a hard shoulder-to-chest check on the Predators forward in the opening 30 seconds of the game that set the tone for the Oilers over the rest of the 59-and-a-half minutes.
Video: RAW | Kris Russell 04.15.22
"You could almost see him lining it up from a couple of seconds before," Nugent-Hopkins said. "He's known to do that once in a while, and he read that play perfectly… It got the bench fired up and it was part of what got us going early in the game."
Starting the game with a punishing hit was just what Russell needed to get both himself and his teammates into the game after the league's all-time leading shot-blocker missed the last 10 games due to a combination of COVID-19 and lineup selection.
"Just getting contact, just getting bumps and feels, it's always big when you haven't been on the ice or playing," Russell said. "It was good for getting settled in.
"I felt good. I thought my reads were pretty good, I moved the puck pretty well, and I just have to continue to do that and bring something to this team."
BOUNCE-BACK MENTALITY
When you have a performance like Thursday night's 5-1 defeat to the Minnesota Wild, you need to respond immediately if you're the Oilers players and coaches.
It's built into the mindset of this team.
After their last two instances of lopsided defeats -- a heavy loss in the Battle of Alberta back on Mar. 26 and Thursday's defeat in Minnesota -- the Oilers have responded with respective 6-1 and 4-0 victories that have immediately righted the ship and got the group back on track.
"We know that a game like that against Minnesota and Calgary, they're not good enough and what our team's about. So we need that response," Head Coach Jay Woodcroft said. "We talk about it after the game, we talk about it before the next game, but to be a good team in this league you can't string together two or three games like that together. I thought we did a good job Thursday] of starting the game the way we wanted to and maintaining that all the way through."
The most encouraging sign to Woodcroft was the determination of the players to look within themselves for answers and return the next day motivated to get back to winning ways while playing the proper way.
[Video: RAW | Jay Woodcroft 04.15.22
"I liked our process after that game in Minnesota," he said. "We honestly self-assessed, we saw it clearly, we had a good practice the next day and then we went out and executed against a really good team in Nashville in their building.
As much as the Minnesota defeat is in the past, so too is the Nashville victory as their day-to-day approach to business goes right towards the chance to further solidify their playoff standing on Saturday afternoon.
"Our focus is on tomorrow. We haven't secured anything," Woodcroft said. "We're trying to get a little better each day and we're paying careful attention on who's playing well at all positions. So for right now, we're working towards fielding a lineup that gives us the best chance to win tomorrow afternoon."
WORKING 11 TO 7
In a deviation back to his early days as Oilers head coach and bench boss of the Bakersfield Condors, Woodcroft reverted back to deploying 11 forwards and seven defencemen for his lineup against the Predators.
Woodcroft and his coaching staff chopped and changed the lineup during Tuesday's game in Minnesota to no avail in an attempt to find a spark in an otherwise challenging contest, but exchanging a forward for an extra defenceman on Thursday helped do the trick.
"I think there are times when the tree needs to be shaken a bit, and if the coaching staff feels like we were flat… we do what we can do to try and shake the tree a little bit and try and get a spark," he said. "In Minnesota, it didn't work.
"Thursday] we went 11 and 7, and I thought we got a good response from our team."
As one of the 11 forwards, it takes an extra level of attention in a system where there will always be different combinations of teammates, assignments, and a quicker flow to forward deployment.
"It adds a little bit of a different dimension to it and on the bench," Nugent-Hopkins said. "You've got to be ready at any moment. You could be going right after the second shift after you get off, so it definitely adds a different element to it but [Woodcroft] is always very into the game and very on it on the bench. It helps us, too."
[Video: RAW | Ryan Nugent-Hopkins 04.15.22
On the back end where Assistant Coach Dave Manson is tasked with orchestrating the exchange of defencemen on and off the ice, blueliners could find themselves quickly being tasked with playing their opposite side or with different partners. But defenders like Russell like the fluidity of the approach and the ability of the system to cycle rearguards through regularly.
"You've got to be ready for any situation you're put in," he said. "Obviously, last game I was happy with it because I got to get in, but at the same time, they do a good job making sure everyone's getting in. No one's sitting there for a while. You're playing off sides sometimes, so you've got to be aware of that as it could be switching shift to shift. That shows how deep we are on the back end and we trust seven guys, so that's big for the confidence of all of us."
Luckily for the Oilers, there's no working-out-the-kinks phase of deploying 11 forwards and seven defenceman thanks to the extended experience of Woodcroft and Manson utilizing the system from their time in Bakersfield.
"I think it's challenging for the coaching staff, but fortunately we had the laboratory down in Bakersfield where we kind of worked through some of those kinks and we feel comfortable icing it," Woodcroft said.
"In Bakersfield, we did it as part of what we felt was a necessity and helped that team win games. So if that's something that we feel gives us the best chance to win, we have experience doing it and feel comfortable if that's the route we want to go."
-- Jamie Umbach, EdmontonOilers.com
OILERS vs. GOLDEN KNIGHTS
STREAM: 2:00 p.m. MT; televised on Sportsnet West
Oilers Team Scope
The Oilers are fresh off a near-flawless performance on Thursday against the Nashville Predators, leaving the Music City with two points and a 4-0 shutout victory.

It was the usual suspect who did the damage in Nashville, with Leon Draisaitl potting his second hat trick of the season to bring his goal tally up to 54 on the year. Draisaitl now has 19 goals in 20 games against the Predators, including 17 of the last 33 Oilers goals against the club.
The Oilers were able to get off their power-play snide, scoring twice on the man advantage after only scoring twice in their previous seven games. Draisaitl broke the ice 9:04 into the first period by finishing off a tic-tac-toe passing play from Connor McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and depositing the puck behind a helpless Jussi Saros.
Draisaitl did the damage again in the second period, collecting an excellent Zach Hyman feed from behind the net and roofing a wrister on Saros for number 53 on the season. The German would finish off the hat trick late in the game, picking up a second power-play tally with 8:51 remaining in the game.
Darnell Nurse would add the only other goal of the game, scoring his ninth on the season while the Blue & Orange were shorthanded.

The Oilers were once again backstopped by an excellent performance of goaltender Mike Smith. The 40-year-old turned aside all 30 shots he faced for his first shutout since Apr. 17 of 2021.
Golden Knights Team Scope
The Golden Knights are looking for an Alberta sweep after dismantling the Calgary Flames to the tune of a 6-1 victory in the Scotiabank Saddledome.
Dillon Dube opened the scoring for the Flames, but the Golden Knights rattled off the next six to get within a point of the last Western Conference Wildcard spot.
Much of the damage was facilitated by Jonathan Marchessault and William Karlsson, who each had a goal and two assists on the evening. The duo will be one to watch for the Oilers defence on Saturday evening, with Marchessault and Karlsson currently sitting first and second in career points against the Oilers with 12 and 11 respectively.
The Golden Knights also saw goals from Jack Eichel, Evgeni Dadanov, Nicolas Roy, and Michael Amadio in their win against Calgary.
Vegas comes into Rogers Place on a bit of a hot streak, sporting 7-1-1 record over their last nine games with a plus-18 goal differential. The hot streak coincides with the recent return of a pair of the Knights top players in captain Mark Stone and winger Max Pacioretty back from injury.
The Knights last game against Edmonton was a 4-0 win on Feb. 8, where former Oilers goaltender Laurent Brossoit stopped all 28 shots directed his way for the shutout.
By The Numbers
Connor McDavid leads all Oilers scorers against the Golden Knights with 17 career points… The Oilers are 2-1 against Vegas this season… the Golden Knights and the Oilers have both scored 10 shorthanded goals this season… the Oilers have killed 20 of their last 21 penalties over the last eight games… Edmonton is averaging 4.80 goals per game over their last 10 games at Rogers Place…
Vegas scored its first power-play goal in eight games in Calgary and are currently 1-for-22 during that span… The Golden Knights are third in the NHL in blocked shots per game at 16.04… Jonathan Marchessault has 15 points in his last nine games… The forward is one goal away from matching his career-high of 30 goals…. Las Vegas has scored on just 4 of their last 59 power-play attempts dating back to Jan. 24… The Golden Knights have not lost in regulation over their last five home games…
Injury Report
OILERS - Oscar Klefbom (shoulder) is on IR; Kyle Turris (back) is on IR.
GOLDEN KNIGHTS - Jake Bischoff (undisclosed) is on IR; Reilly Smith (knee) is on IR; Nick Hague (undisclosed) is on IR; Nolan Patrick (undisclosed) is on IR; Brett Howden (upper-body) is on IR; Laurent Brossoit (lower-body) is on IR; William Carrier (lower-body) is on IR.
-- Michael Arcuri, EdmontonOilers.com