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GAME 2 – EDMONTON OILERS 5 VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS 4 (EDM 2-0)

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On May 8, 2025

In Game Recaps

Recap:The Golden Knights were looking to even the second round series against the Edmonton Oilers with a Game 2 victory. Vegas was awarded two power play opportunities in the opening eight minutes of the contest. Victor Olofsson opened the scoring with his first goal of the playoffs. Both clubs finished the period with six shots apiece but the Golden Knights held a 1-0 advantage after the first twenty minutes.

Edmonton scored three consecutive goals in the second period to take a 3-1 advantage late in the frame. With under two minutes remaining William Karlsson trimmed Edmonton’s edge to 3-2.

The Oilers regained their two-goal advantage 1:52 into the final frame but the Golden Knights quickly responded. Olofsson snapped in his second power play goal of the evening. Vegas heavily attacked Edmonton down the stretch and it paid off. In his return to the lineup, Alex Pietrangelo blasted in the game-tying goal from the point. After sixty minutes of regulation, Game 2 would be decided in overtime. Late in sudden death the Oilers ended the game 5-4.

The Golden Knights trail the series by two games after falling to the Oilers 5-4  in OT. The best of seven game series will shift to Edmonton, Alberta for Games 3 & 4 beginning on Saturday. Game 3 is scheduled for a 6PM PT puck drop. (Recap by Jason)

Analysis: Another early couple of power plays helped VGK get off an running and take another early lead in the series. The middle frame was crucial as the Golden Knights started out stifling the Oilers attack by exiting the zone with precision. But, it fell apart for about a six minute stretch and Adin Hill was unable to come up with the big save to keep VGK afloat. The pushback in the 3rd period came from VGK this time, again with the help of a penalty by McDavid 200 feet away from the goal. They kept pushing and found a way back into the game, which has been EDM’s calling card the last two weeks. The Golden Knights improbably killed a 5-minute major penalty to Nic Roy in OT, but it wasn’t enough as the only real moment in the game McDavid made a play and it seals the game. (Recap by Ken)

Upcoming stories from Game 2 of the Second Round series between the Vegas Golden Knights vs Edmonton Oilers at T-Mobile Arena.

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Where The Golden Knights Fell Short In Game 1 And How They Can Correct It

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On May 8, 2025

In Game Analysis

(Photo Credit: SinBin.vegas Photographer Brandon Andreasen)

Despite getting out to a 2-0 lead in Game 1, the Golden Knights exited Tuesday night’s game at T-Mobile Arena feeling like they have a lot more to give. They gave up four straight goals in the final 45 minutes of the game, landed just one shot on goal the entire 2nd period, and simply didn’t make life hard enough on the porous Oilers defense consistently.

The Golden Knights have been here before. They’ve lost Game 1 of a series and come back to win on four separate occasions, including three times in which they went on to win four straight (twice vs WPG in 5 games and once vs COL in 6 games). They’re going to look in the mirror after their underwhelming two periods and get back to work when the puck drops tonight at 6:50 for Game 2.

There are three specific places Vegas can improve that will put the Oilers under a lot more pressure and neutralize some of their most dangerous threats.

Increased urgency on the forecheck

It may sound harsh, but the Golden Knights’ forecheck in Game 1 was essentially non-existent. This allowed the Oilers to send waves of attack at Vegas’ goal and, maybe even more importantly, limited the amount of time Edmonton had to defend their own end.

Forecheck, I just thought we were a little late at times, duplicated a few times and their first goal we were caught in between. They’re going to look to make plays if you don’t play through them and that’s what they did. They bombed it up ice because we weren’t on time or our sticks were not in the right place to break up some of those plays. We have to have better sticks against a team that regroups with a lot of speed. So, take away time and space or get over people and have good sticks. It’s got to be both. -Bruce Cassidy

Mixing up the lines to bring a slightly more balanced attack should help the forecheck apply more heat on the Oilers’ blue liners. Ivan Barbashev, Brett Howden, and Keegan Kolesar will be key in getting to pucks quickly as the first man in and forcing the play the way Vegas wants it to go.

The challenge against Edmonton is that if you are even a second behind on the forecheck, you have to abort and focus on stopping their ensuing rush. Time and time again in Game 1, players like Evan Bouchard, Darnell Nurse, Jake Walman, and John Klingberg hit stretch passes out of the zone that beat two or even three on-rushing Golden Knights. Vegas’ decision-making on the forecheck has to improve to either get to them quicker or get above the puck and into the long passing lanes to force Edmonton turnovers in the neutral zone.

In the 1st period, Mark Stone was excellent in this respect, causing multiple errors from Leon Draisaitl, one of which ultimately ended up as Vegas’ second goal. Centers and the “third” forward (the winger not first in on the forecheck) will have to have much better games to eliminate Edmonton’s quick-up rush game that damaged VGK in Game 1.

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Edmonton’s Elevated Confidence And Patience A New Challenge For Vegas

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On May 7, 2025

In Game Analysis

(Photo Credit: SinBin.vegas Photographer Brandon Andreasen)

Back in 2023 the Golden Knights broke the Oilers confidence in six games. Vegas lead the Second Round series for 157 minutes and shattered the dreams of an extremely hungry Edmonton lineup. Vegas gained control of that series from the opening puck drop. Last night, for more than a period it felt like history was going to repeat itself.

That’s part of having a mature, older group. I don’t know where we rank in playoff games, I assume we’re very high among the NHL teams. We’re the oldest team. Those players have seen a lot. A lot of good things, a lot of bad things. They know in the playoffs things fluctuate. There’s a lot of things that can stress out the team, and no matter what happens we handle it really well. Tonight’s an excellent example. We played a really good 2nd period with nothing to show. There was no panic and we came out in the third and continued business. – Kris Knoblauch, Oilers coach

After their three unanswered 3rd period goal victory, the even-keeled Oilers acted as if they were the team that took the early lead. A two-goal deficit didn’t faze them before, during, or after Edmonton’s 4-2 Game 1 victory. Sure, fans are accustomed to the Oilers casually erasing multi-goal leads but never would they believe that it would occur against a structurally sound playoff team like the Golden Knights. In fact, at T-Mobile Arena, the Golden Knights had won 26 straight playoff games with a multi-goal lead until last night.

During the opening period of Game 1, Oilers coach Kris Knoblach calmly told ESPN he was surprised his team hadn’t scored yet. Minutes later, they slowly began their comeback.

There’s no panic. We just came out in the 3rd and continued business. Yes, we’d like to get a better start, score the first goal and cruise from there. If you can pick a period that you’re going to be the strongest in, as a coach, you want to be the best in the 3rd period. Because that’s when it’s going to come down to it. -Knoblauch

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GAME 1 – EDMONTON OILERS 4 VEGAS GOLDEN KNIGHTS 2 (EDM 1-0)

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On May 6, 2025

In Game Recaps

Recap: The Golden Knights were looking to get off to a good start to the second round of the playoffs with a victory at home over the Edmonton Oilers. Vegas was awarded an early four-minute power play and immediately took advantage. Captain Mark Stone opened the scoring for Vegas with his third goal of the postseason. Stone added his fourth later in the frame to give the Golden Knights a two goal edge. Late in the period the Oilers scored to cut VGK’s lead to 2-1.

Vegas committed multiple penalties in the middle period but their penalty kill units forced Edmonton to come up empty. Vegas held their 2-1 edge after 40 minutes.

The Oilers evened the score 0:57 seconds into the final frame. Later in the period Edmonton took the lead and extended it with under five minutes to play. The Golden Knights shockingly dropped Game 1 after leading the majority of the way.

The Golden Knights trail the series 1-0 after falling to the Oilers 4-2 in Game 1. Next game is scheduled for Thursday night. Puck drop for Game 1 is scheduled for 630PM PT(Recap by Jason)

Analysis: The Golden Knights looked like they had all the answers for what the Oilers offered in the 1st period. They got on the PP and buried one quickly, the top line was getting out in transition consistently against EDM’s top line, and the depth were generating enough to feel good. Then, the 1st period ended and it all ground to a complete halt. Edmonton’s top line scored another one then their depth made life quite difficult on VGK. The better team over 60 minutes won this game, and it wasn’t the good guys. VGK have some soul searching to do before Game 2, because this performance was far from enough to win 4 of the next 6.(Recap by Ken)

Upcoming stories from Game 1 of the second round series between the Vegas Golden Knights vs Edmonton Oilers at T-Mobile Arena.

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Bruce Cassidy Will Have To Nail Delicate Balance Of Line Matching Vs Connor McDavid And Leon Draisaitl

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On May 5, 2025

In Team Ops

(Photo Credit: SinBin.vegas Photographer Brandon Andreasen)

There’s no team in the NHL quite like the Edmonton Oilers. Their pair of superstars and their ability to play together or apart sets up for a cat-and-mouse game between the two head coaches that will ultimately tell the story of the series.

This year, it becomes even more of a focal point than the series between the two teams in 2023. That’s because of the way the Golden Knights rolled out their forward lines to finish Round One against Minnesota. After searching high and low for a solution to stopping the Wild’s top guys, Bruce Cassidy ended up playing his three best defensive players all on the same line, and it worked like magic.

Unlike 2023, when Vegas has a lineup in which Jack Eichel, Mark Stone, and William Karlsson were each on separate lines, this year they enter with the option to play them all together, which will make the battle between the coaches even more important.

I’m not a big line match guy but there are exceptions to every rule and they have a couple of players who are exceptions. Those guys are MVP’s of the league. You have to be mindful of when they are coming over the boards to get the matchup you prefer. -Bruce Cassidy

In their series against the Kings, Kris Knoblauch deployed Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl together for the lion’s share of the time. LA countered with a bit of a rotation on who drew the defensive assignments, with Philip Danault, Anze Kopitar, and Quinton Byfield each spending more than 24 minutes of ice time against both McDavid and Draisaitl.

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Tale Of The Tape: How The Golden Knights Stack Up Against The Edmonton Oilers

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On May 3, 2025

In Stats

(Photo Credit: SinBin.vegas Photographer Brandon Andreasen)

The Golden Knights are moving on to the Second Round and standing in their way now is a familiar foe. Vegas’ biggest rival in the NHL since San Jose fell off, the Edmonton Oilers are next up in what should be a hate-filled series.

Edmonton came from behind four consecutive times and overcame a 0-2 series deficit, beating the LA Kings in six games.

Let’s dive into the stats to see how the two teams matchup in ahead of Game 1.

Record
Vegas: 50-22-10, 110 points (3rd)
Edmonton: 48-29-5, 101 points (9th)

Goals For
Vegas: 274, 3.34 per game (5th)
Edmonton: 259, 3.16 per game (11th)

Goals Against
Vegas: 214, 2.61 per game (3rd)
Edmonton: 235, 2.87 per game (14th)

Shots For
Edmonton: 2624, 32.0 per game (1st)
Vegas: 2480, 30.3 per game (4th)

Shots Against
Vegas: 2140, 26.1 per game (4th)
Edmonton: 2214, 27.0 per game (9th)

Save Percentage
Vegas: .900 (9th)
Edmonton: .894 (16th)

Power Play
Vegas: 29.12% (2nd)
Edmonton: 23.72% (12th)

Penalty Kill
Edmonton: 78.16% (16th)
Vegas: 76.51% (24th)

Blocks
Vegas: 1267 (13th)
Edmonton: 1150 (30th)

Hits
Vegas: 1488 (27th)
Edmonton: 1241 (32nd)

Similar to the First Round series, the Golden Knights hold the edge in just about every category from the regular season. Edmonton’s massive shot total does make this a much different-looking series than Minnesota. Of course, the Oilers enter this series red-hot offensively scoring an insane 27 goals, 4.5 per game, in their six game series with the Kings. They are the leakiest defensive team remaining in the postseason having allowed 4.0 a night vs LA.

Special teams is an area to keep an eye on, as it was two years ago. Last time, the Oilers entered with the most dangerous power play in the history of the league, this year’s VGK’s had the better regular season numbers. But, Edmonton struck on 38.5% of their first round power plays while Vegas converted on just 22.2%. Vegas’ kill was stupendous, not only posting a fantastic 92.3% mark but also scoring a pair of shorthanded goals. Edmonton never had an answer for the LAK 5-forward power play look as they scored eight goals on 20 opportunities.

On to the fancier numbers.

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Back To The Future For Golden Knights And Oilers In Round Two

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On May 2, 2025

In Team Ops

(Photo Credit: SinBin.vegas Photographer Brandon Andreasen)

For the 12th time in club history, Vegas clinched a playoff series and will advance to the next round. While the series against the Minnesota Wild looked worrisome after three games, the Golden Knights were led by their stars in the final two games of the best of seven game affair. Overall, the 1st place team in the Pacific Division prevailed with their coaching, experience and special teams.

(Credit: SPORT LOGiQ)

Next, Vegas will take on a familiar foe for a chance to advance to the Western Conference Final. The Golden Knights hosted the Oilers in 2023, and although the series lasted six games, it wasn’t a very close chain of games. Only one of the six contests ended in a one-goal score. In VGKs four wins wins over Edmonton in 2023, the average margin of victory was three goals. However, at the conclusion of the series the Golden Knights only outscored the Oilers by three goals. There’s a strong chance the second round will play out the same way.

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