The Oilers feel they have the right combinations in their lineup to get the job done & eliminate the Golden Knights from the Stanley Cup Playoffs in Game 5 at T-Mobile Arena on Wednesday night
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LAS VEGAS, NV – Gearing up to get the job done and move on to the Western Conference Final.
The Edmonton Oilers look to leverage their terrific performance in Game 4 on Monday at Rogers Place by using the same lineup with some slightly altered combinations to get the most out of their team for Wednesday’s opportunity to finish off the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 5 at T-Mobile Arena.
“It’s obviously a hard one to get in any series,” Leon Draisaitl said. “The other side’s always desperate. There’s always a sense of urgency that needs to be there for their team. We’ve been in that situation as well, so I think we’ve done a good job in the past of matching that and then staying in the moment and capitalizing whenever we get the chance. We’re looking to do that again tonight.”
After coming in for Viktor Arvidsson and making an immediate impact in Monday’s 3-0 shutout victory, Kasperi Kapanen will start Game 5 in Edmonton’s top six next to Vasily Podkolzin and Leon Draisaitl, while Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Zach Hyman are poised to flank Connor McDavid on the top line.
“I’m trying to be physical out there and not try not to take stupid penalties by letting my emotions get the better of me,” Kapanen said. “Just kind of keeping that in check, but I think that’s something I can try to bring to the team is my physicality and getting that energy up, which I felt [I did]. So I’ll just try to do a little bit more of that today.”
Kris speaks from T-Mobile Arena before Game 5 against Vegas
Tasked with shutting down Jack Eichel’s line, Leon Draisaitl thought they did a stand-up job and they’re looking to continue that tonight when the Golden Knights have the last change as the home team by preaching the same defensive details that allowed them to succeed in Game 4 against them.
“[Kapanen] was great. Obviously, our line had a big role and a big task, and not an easy one to come into, but I thought he was great. He skates extremely well, is very dynamic and I really enjoy playing with him,” Draisaitl said.
“I’d like to think that I can play any role you give me. A challenge like that excites me,” he added. “I feel like I’ve always, whenever given a challenge like that, responded really well. I know I’m very capable of scoring goals, but on the other side, also defending really well and shutting someone down. So whatever it is I’m needed to do this time of year, I’ll gladly do it.”
The trio of Evander Kane, Adam Henrique, and Connor Brown was highly effective in Game 4, scoring two goals and playing a tenacious game on home ice. They’ll look to keep things rolling tonight to try and eliminate Vegas on the road, where the Oilers already earned victories in Games 1 & 2 of this series.
Trent Frederic, Mattias Janmark and Corey Perry will make up Edmonton’s fourth line, rounding out a balanced forward group for the Oilers that boasts four lines that they can roll against the Golden Knights with confidence in their chance on Wednesday to advance to Round 3 for the third time in four seasons.
“Just playing our game and playing solid,” Knoblauch said. “They are very dangerous off the rush, and you’ve seen that in the series with the amount of goals have been scored off the rush for both teams. So we’re just going to have to ensure we’re not feeding their transition.
“We’ve got to have guys staying above them, and when we’re giving up even-man rushes, then we should be able to defend those. But if they’re odd-man, that makes those things a Little more difficult and they can have some dangerous players who can create some chances. So we just have to eliminate that.”
Kasperi speaks ahead of Game 5 against the Golden Knights
On the back end, Troy Stecher’s first appearance of the 2025 playoffs on Monday in Game 4 will lead the Oilers to shake up their blueline combinations ahead of tonight’s important clash. The 31-year-old is set to retake his regular place beside Darnell Nurse, which was common during the regular season.
“We need everybody, and we saw it last year through the playoffs how many guys came in and out of the lineups,” Knoblauch said. “This year, we haven’t had as much change to our roster, but you saw the other night when we inserted Kapanen, who hadn’t played for several weeks, and Stecher too, and they were able to help us.
“It’s going to happen again, whether that’s after a loss or whether there’s an injury or whatever happens, where we need to have different looks. I think everyone’s done a pretty good job. You look at our depth scoring and guys getting involved, whether they’re in a physical, defensive, or penalty kill role, I think we’ve got a lot of good hockey players and they’ve all been helping our team win.”
Brett Kulak will skate alongside Evan Bouchard on the top pairing, with the ‘third pair’ duo of Jake Walman and John Klingberg being the only unchanged twosome from Monday’s 3-0 victory in Game 4.
In between the pipes, it will be Stuart Skinner starting his third straight game after he stopped all 23 saves for his second career playoff shutout on Monday, which helped give the Oilers a 3-1 series lead going back to Vegas for the chance to move on to the next round tonight.
Goaltender Calvin Pickard remains day-to-day with an injury, meaning Olivier Rodrigue will once again back up Stuart Skinner.
Leon speaks ahead of Edmonton’s chance to eliminate Vegas
View the Oilers Projected Game 5 Lineup vs. Vegas below:
Nugent-Hopkins – McDavid – Hyman
Podkolzin – Draisaitl – Kapanen
Kane – Henrique – Brown
Frederic – Janmark – Perry
Kulak – Bouchard
Nurse – Stecher
Walman – Klingberg
Skinner
Rodrigue
