They've been off for a little bit.'Ī key to this series is Edmonton's power play firing at 56 per cent in the playoffs, compared to a middling Knights' penalty kill operating at 58 per cent. 'Any time you can limit your time on the plane, it's obviously a good thing,' McDavid told reporters in L.A. The Oilers remained in California to rest and skate before leaving the beach for the desert. He produced a pair of three-point nights during a first-round elimination of his hometown Jets in five games.Įdmonton needed six to oust the Los Angeles Kings. 500 without one of their best two-way forwards reflects their depth. The 30-year-old from Winnipeg missed a total of 39 because of back surgery. Knights' forward Mark Stone was out of the lineup for the last three regular-season games against the Oilers. 'That core has been together for a long time. 'A different animal, regular season (and) playoffs, so I don't think that translates very well.' McDavid said. The Oilers swept the regular-season series 4-0, but three were one-goal games and two were overtime wins. The best-of-seven, conference semifinal also marks the first playoff meeting of the Oilers' Connor McDavid and the Knights' Jack Eichel since they were selected first and second respectively in the 2015 entry draft. Game 2 is Friday there before the series flips to Edmonton. Vegas gets home-ice advantage to kick off the second-round series Wednesday at T-Mobile Arena. They have some really good D that can move the puck as well, so they're a pretty complete team.' 'They won the division, so we know what we're up against,' Oilers defenceman Mattias Ekholm said. The Knights were among the league's top-five plus-minus teams in the regular season and topped the first round of the playoffs at plus-seven. Vegas (51-22-9) got it done at both ends of the ice to rank first in the Western Conference, two points up on Edmonton (50-23-9).

The first ever playoff confrontation between the Oilers and Golden Knights pits Edmonton's explosive offence against one of the best two-way teams in the NHL.

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