PREVIEW: Oilers at Golden Knights (Game 1)

The Edmonton Oilers will go head-to-head with the Vegas Golden Knights in the Second Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs starting with Game 1 of the series on Tuesday night at T-Mobile Arena.

You can watch the game on Sportsnet at 7:30 p.m. MDT or listen live on the Oilers Radio Network, including 880 CHED.

Subscribe to Oilers+ to unlock the Pre-Game Show that will begin 30 minutes before puck-drop, along with more exclusive live and behind-the-scenes content.

Game previews during the 2025 Oilers playoffs are presented by Pizza 73 🍕

LAS VEGAS, NV – We're heading back to The Strip.

And we’re looking to recoup some losses.

Coming off their Round 1 victory over the Los Angeles Kings, the Edmonton Oilers will take on the Vegas Golden Knights in the Second Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the second time in three years, starting with Game 1 at T-Mobile Arena on Tuesday night.

“Looking forward to it,” said Oilers captain Connor McDavid on Sunday. “Obviously, they’re a great team. It was only a couple years ago when they beat us and they won it all, so they're a proven group, battle tested, and it'll be a great series.”

It’ll be the second time ever that the two Pacific Division rivals will meet in Round 2 after Vegas ended Edmonton’s season in six games during the 2023 playoffs before moving on and eventually winning their franchise’s first Stanley Cup.

The Oilers felt they had the team to beat the Golden Knights that year but instead had to mull over their six-game exit from the playoffs at the hands of their rivals, who took advantage of some of Edmonton’s own self-inflicted wounds in Games 5 & 6 of the series after each team managed to win on the road to make it 2-2 heading into a pivotal Game 5.

Edmonton had a 2-1 lead after the first period in both games, but they were unable to lock down their slender advantage in the middle frame of either contest, giving up a five-on-three and pair of power-play goals in Game 5 before a natural hat-trick for Jonathan Marchessault in Game 6 ultimately ended their season.

It was a hard pill to swallow for the Oilers, but after re-tooling over the past two seasons – including last year's run to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final and last round's win over Los Angeles – the core from their last playoff meeting with Vegas remains intact and they feel there's a different aura around the team this time.

They're ready for a rematch, and they're out for revenge.

“It's difficult anytime you lose in the playoffs, especially when you feel like you had a good team,” McDavid said. “We felt like we had a good team then, but they had a great team as well, so we feel like we have another good team this year and we’ve got as good of a chance as anyone.

“Looking forward to getting to Vegas and getting started, and we’ve find a way to start the series better.”

The Oilers defeated the Kings back in 2023 during the First Round of the playoffs before facing Vegas, and they followed the same path to get by beating Los Angeles for the fourth postseason in a row despite dropping the opening games on the road to fall behind to a 2-0 in the series.

Edmonton rallied for four straight victories behind goaltender Calvin Pickard, who was the only undefeated netminder in the First Round at 4-0-0 after replacing Stuart Skinner for the start of Game 3, while their depth scoring shined in Games 5 & 6 with six even-strength goals from players not named Connor McDavid or Leon Draisaitl (Evander Kane, Mattias Janmark, Adam Henrique, Zach Hyman, Darnell Nurse and Trent Frederic).

In total, they scored 15 five-on-five goals against Los Angeles, and 11 of their 12 forwards who were a part of their Game 6 roster last Thursday in Edmonton all found the scoresheet at some point during the series. The only holdout in Vasily Podkolzin, who still contributed four assists, 29 hits and going plus-3 while averaging 10:09 TOI per game.

Still, Edmonton's two superstars led the team as their top-two scorers in the First Round, with McDavid recording 11 points (2G, 9A) and Draisaitl posting 10 points (3G, 7A).

Defenceman Evan Bouchard scored two of his four goals against the Kings on the power play, which started slow for the Oilers before going 5-for-8 over their four straight victories between Games 3 & 6. The penalty kill vastly improved from Games 1 & 2 after allowing five goals on 12 opportunities.

The Oilers started their series against Los Angeles with a roster that was heavily impacted by injuries – including Evander Kane, Trent Frederic, John Klingberg, Jake Wahlman and more – but those players were able to get up to speed quick upon returning and help make efficient work of their final four games to move on to the Second Round for a meeting with the Golden Knights.

Starting on Tuesday with close to a fully healthy roster, with Mattias Ekholm being the only exception and expected to be out for the entire Second Round, the Oilers are hoping they can build on their success and chemistry from the LA series and turn that into better early results in Las Vegas.

"We had a lot of guys in the first couple of games that hadn't played in a long time or hadn't played much," Leon Draisaitl said. "So we're getting those guys up to speed with every practice and every game. Every day, guys are getting better and are feeling more comfortable, and that's only to our advantage."

Additionally, Head Coach Kris Knoblauch feels his team is in a good spot when it comes to their current roster, knowing what to expect and where he could potentially make changes after needing to find the right formula early in the LA series as players returned from injury.

"It makes it a lot more easier. I know exactly where everyone is right now," he said. "There's probably at least a half dozen guys who were just coming off injuries, whether that was for a couple of weeks, a couple of months or almost a year. You're not sure where they're going to fit in, how they're going to play individually or how they're going to play with a couple other guys. We've had some games that they've meshed and they've been playing well together. So for me, it gives me a lot of a lot clearer picture."

Edmonton knows that if they want to increase their odds of getting past Vegas, they’re going to need to come up with a faster start to the series.

“It's big,” Leon Draisaitl said on Monday. “We can't find ourselves in a two to three-nothing hole again, and if you do, then you're going to have to try and climb your way out of it. It's big to start the series off well and find your game immediately.”

"I think we understand that getting down 2-0 isn't a recipe for success all the time," Evander Kane added. "Especially against a team like Las Vegas, it's important to go down there and get one and be ready for Game 1."

The Golden Knights eliminated the Minnesota Wild in six games in the First Round and present a much different challenge on both sides of the puck for the Oilers than what the Kings presented them in their opening series.

Vegas was one of the best teams off the rush in the regular season with options up front like Jack Eichel, Mark Stone and Tomas Hertl, and they have plenty of size throughout their four forward lines that can get in on the forecheck and make you pay a lot more than Los Angeles did with their passive forecheck.

Their blueliners are big, physical and mobile, boasting five of the same six blueliners from their 2023 playoff victory over the Oilers.

Noah Hanifin is the relatively new addition on Vegas' back end who leads their team in average time on ice in these playoffs at 23:07, with Alex Pietrangelo (22:31) and Shea Theodore (22:11) also playing heavy minutes for the Golden Knights.

"I think their defence makes it hard to get to the net with how big they are," Knoblauch said. "But as big and physical as they are, they still have a lot of offensive ability. Usually, you think of big and strong defencemen being stay-at-home guys that don't produce much offensive in the play, but I don't think that's the case with them at all. I think all six of them provide some offence but make it hard to get for the opposition and hard to get to the net."

"LA was man on man and completely different, but I think the biggest thing [with Vegas] is just how dangerous they are off the rush as a group," he added. "They scored more goals off the rush than any team in the NHL during the regular season, so it's going to be really important that we manage pucks and we have a good backcheck to limit those opportunities."