Edmonton seeks return trip to conference final; Vegas hopes for faster start
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LAS VEGAS — To stay alive, the Vegas Golden Knights need to look alive early in Game 5 of the Western Conference Second Round against the Edmonton Oilers at T-Mobile Arena on Wednesday (9:30 p.m. ET; ESPN, SN, TVAS, CBC).
The Golden Knights had a lead in each game in Edmonton but weren’t able to win either. They survived in Game 3, at home, winning 4-3 on a last-second goal by Reilly Smith. They weren’t as fortunate in Game 4 on Monday, allowing two first-period goals to Adam Henrique, including one 87 seconds into the game, before losing 3-0.
They are down 3-1 in the best-of-7 series.
“The tenor we are going to set is we have to be better in the first 10 minutes,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “It’s an urgency, an intensity out of the gate. I think that’s a no-brainer. They don’t need me to tell them that.”
The Golden Knights have lost both best-of-7 Stanley Cup Playoff series in which they’ve trailed 3-1 in their history. Of the 352 NHL teams to face such a deficit, 32 have advanced, a success rate of 9.1 percent.
The Golden Knights own a record of 3-5 when facing elimination, including a 3-2 mark as the home team.
“It would behoove us to be the better team in the first 10 minutes, because if we get going, it will give us confidence, we’ll feel good about ourselves and maybe it puts doubt in them,” Cassidy said.
The players insist they understand the need to start to start faster and be better for longer stretches.
“They came out in the first [in Game 4], obviously, had a hard push,” Golden Knights forward Jack Eichel said. “Give us credit though, we stood up to them. You get behind and we obviously weren’t able to solve the goaltender. We’ve just got to be cleaner on our breakouts and just better execution, I think. It’s do-or-die now.”
Here’s a breakdown of Game 5:
Oilers: Edmonton is 42-19 in potential series-clinching games, including a 20-11 record on the road. It is looking to reach the third round in consecutive postseasons for the first time since a three-year stretch from 1990-1992. The Oilers know how important it is to knock a team out when the opportunity arises. Last season, they lost the first three games of the Stanley Cup Final before winning the next three against the Florida Panthers. They lost Game 7, but don’t want to give Vegas that kind of hope if they can avoid it. “We have to play one good game, that’s where our head’s at,” Edmonton forward Leon Draisaitl said. “Let’s play one good game here tonight and give ourselves a good chance to move on.”
Golden Knights: Vegas knows it needs to control the area in front of each net to win Game 5. In Game 4, each of Henrique’s goals came from 20 feet out or less. Each came after Edmonton won a puck battle in the offensive zone. Meanwhile, Cassidy said his team did not do enough to make life hard for Edmonton goalie Stuart Skinner, who looked shaky in Game 3. “I’m going to talk to them about the dirty areas,” he said. “We gave up two goals right in front of our net. We’ve got to kill those plays and be harder on the wall to begin with.
Number to know: 7-3. Goalie Adin Hill has a 7-3 record with a 2.56 goals-against average, .906 save percentage and two shoutouts in his playoff career following a loss. Three goaltenders have more wins following a loss since Hill made his debut in the 2023 playoffs: Jake Oettinger (15), Sergei Bobrovsky (11) and Skinner, who got his 10th win following a loss in Game 4.
What to watch for: Four players missed the morning skate Wednesday and are game-time decisions, according to Cassidy. Forward Mark Stone sustained an injury in Game 3, but he played Game 4 and had a shot on goal and a minus-1 rating in 21:42 of ice time. Defenseman Brayden McNabb sustained an upper-body injury during overtime of Game 2 but has played the past two games. Defenseman Alex Pietrangelo missed Game 1 with illness but has played in each of the past three games. Forward Brandon Saad has missed the past two games and is unlikely to return for Game 5.
“[The game] changes; it changes more to what fits his style. More physicality, harder to get to the net, more physicality, more hits. Those are attributes that he is good at.” — Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch on how postseason hockey suits the game of forward Evander Kane, who has seven points in nine playoff games after missing the entire regular season due to injury
“[One game at a time] is the healthy way to approach it. We’ve still got to believe in it, and I think we do. So, one game at a time, we’ll try to win this, and then we’ll move on to the next one.” — Golden Knights forward William Karlsson on the team’s mindset
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins — Connor McDavid — Zach Hyman
Vasily Podkolzin — Leon Draisaitl — Kasperi Kapanen
Evander Kane — Adam Henrique — Connor Brown
Trent Frederic — Mattias Janmark — Corey Perry
Brett Kulak — Evan Bouchard
Darnell Nurse — Troy Stecher
Jake Walman — John Klingberg
Stuart Skinner
Olivier Rodrigue
Scratched: Viktor Arvidsson, Joshua Brown, Cam Dineen, Ty Emberson, Max Jones, Derek Ryan, Jeff Skinner
Injured: Mattias Ekholm (undisclosed), Calvin Pickard (lower body)
Brett Howden — Jack Eichel — Victor Olofsson
Pavel Dorofeyev –Tomas Hertl – Nicolas Roy
Ivan Barbashev — William Karlsson — Reilly Smith
Tanner Pearson — Cole Schwindt — Keegan Kolesar
Noah Hanifin — Shea Theodore
Nicolas Hague — Zach Whitecloud
Ben Hutton – Kaedan Korczak
Adin Hill
Akira Schmid
Scratched: Alexander Holtz, Ilya Samsonov
Injured: Brayden McNabb (undisclosed), Alex Pietrangelo (undisclosed), Brandon Saad (undisclosed), Mark Stone (undisclosed)
Status report
The Oilers will dress the same lineup they used in a 3-0 win in Game 4. … Stone will be a game-time decision; if the forward plays, the lines would shuffle with Schwindt being scratched. … Defensemen Pietrangelo and McNabb are also game-time decisions; if each plays, Pietrangelo likely will pair with Hague, McNabb will join Theodore and Hutton and Korczak will not play.
