The Edmonton Oilers look to avoid elimination on Sunday night when they take on the Golden Knights at Rogers Place for Game 6.

You can watch the game on Sportsnet and CBC or listen live on the Oilers Radio Network, including 630 CHED.

Subscribe to Oilers+ to unlock the Pre-Game Show that will begin at 7:30 p.m. MT, along with more exclusive live and behind-the-scenes content.

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GAME DAY VIDEO

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PRE-GAME RAW | Coach Woodcroft

PRE-GAME RAW | Connor McDavid

PRE-GAME RAW | Darnell Nurse

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BY THE NUMBERS

Oilers Statistics

Golden Knights Statistics

Stats Comparison

Game Notes

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VIEWING INFORMATION

You can watch Sunday's game on Sportsnet West at 8:00 PM MT.

INSIDE THE OILERS

News and notes from the Oilers hotel availability in Las Vegas as they headed home to prepare for Sunday's Game 6 at Rogers Place.

**>> READ MORE IN THE INSIDE THE OILERS BLOG**

PRE-GAME REPORT

EDMONTON, AB - All that pain-staking adversity; all that effort and energy put into preparation; all that sacrifice over the course of an 82-game regular season and playoffs.

It all comes down to winning one game to keep their quest for the Stanley Cup going.

Trailing 3-2 in their series to the Vegas Golden Knights, the Edmonton Oilers must stave off elimination in Game 6 on Sunday with the support of their home fans at Rogers Place behind them in order to force an all-important Game 7 back at T-Mobile Arena on Tuesday night.

The feeling in the dressing room, however, is reminiscent of what it's been all season whether that's come off a win or loss -- even-keeled and singular-focused.

"There's no magic that happens, you just get ready for another one," captain Connor McDavid said about the preparation in the locker room going into Game 6.

For the players and coaches, it's just another chance for their resilient group to win another game and take another step closer to their ultimate goal of winning the Cup despite the pressure and perils of the potential end to their season.

"Our opinion of our group hasn't changed," Head Coach Jay Woodcroft said. "We think we have a great opportunity before us here on home ice to play our best game, and that's what we've set out to do."

"We knew this would be a long series and that's the way it's playing out. Our focus and our attention are exactly where it needs to be, which is on figuring out a way to play our best game so that we can walk out of the rink happy tonight."

For the entirety of Woodcroft's tenure behind the Oilers bench, the day-to-day approach of learning from their last match in order to improve for the next one has set the parameters of the approach inside the locker room that will be tested to their 10th degree on Sunday with the Blue & Orange on the brink of a second-round exit.

But if there's one group who's up to the task, it's the one that comes through their iconic and emblematic Oilers-crested sliding doors.

"Moments like this are what our group has been building up towards -- that one-day-at-a-time approach that we've been working on not only over the course of this year, but through the final stretch in the playoffs last year just taking it one day at a time and bringing our best game and our best effort at a crucial time like this," defenceman Darnell Nurse said.

"These are the moments that we're built for, and that's why we have such a great trust in our group and the guys in this locker room."

NURSE RETURNS

Nurse will be a welcomed addition back to the lineup after the blueliner was forced to watch Game 6 from the press box after being served a one-game suspension along with Vegas defender Alex Pietrangelo, who was given one game for slashing Leon Draisaitl late in Edmonton's 4-1 win in Game 4 back on Wednesday on home ice.

After battling alongside his teammates for all 82 regular-season games and through the playoffs, Nurse is pumped up to get the chance to return to the lineup and battle with his teammates to keep their season.

"I'm excited. I think our team's excited," Nurse said. "When you're going through the playoffs and the course of a season, there are different challenges and different adversity that you have to face. I think over 82 games, we've faced a lot of adversity and we're able to withstand it and push forward.

"This is a test for us to do in the playoffs, and I love the group in here that we have."

After being forced to sit out Game 5 due to suspension, Darnell Nurse's return to the lineup will be a welcomed sight for anyone who isn't associated with the Vegas Golden Knights.

That reality rings doubly true for some of the Oilers training and medical staff after the Hamilton, Ont. product was forced to absorb the result from the team facilities inside T-Mobile Arena while his teammates took to the ice.

"Those poor trainers," Nurse said toward how he watched Edmonton's 4-3 defeat on Friday. "As I was sitting out, I was just walking and pacing back and forth. I didn't throw anything, but it's tough and I'm excited to get back in and try to help the team."

Instead of worrying about what he could've done if he was able to compete in Game 5, the defenceman kept his analysis to the intricacies of the game and how he can use the change of perspective as an advantage tonight.

"You just watch and analyze the game. I don't really worry about 'what ifs', he said.

Just as Nurse isn't keen to look back and think about how things might've been different if he was in the lineup, Coach Woodcroft is carrying that same approach when describing his veteran blueliner and his importance to the Oilers and their bid to stay in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

"What I don't do is I don't go to hindsight at all," he said. "He's an important player on our team, and we're excited to have him back today."

Nurse's captain summed up the contributions and the leadership that Nurse brings in so many different facets for this group.

"Really big. Obviously, he plays big minutes," he said. "A big, important player for us who plays in all situations, so he's a big piece of it.

"It's tough to pinpoint just one [area]. Like I said, he touches all aspects of our game, but obviously five-on-five, he's a real big piece of that. On the penalty kill, he's a big piece of as well."

EXPERIENCE IN ELIMINATION

If you have experience, use it to your advantage.

The Oilers will pool all their knowledge and experiences in these types of moments into winning one hockey game on Sunday night, knowing if they stick to what's gotten them this far, it can return similar positive results.

"What I've seen over the last year and a half is a group that has tried to use the moments that present themselves to be able to set themselves up for moments like these," Woodcroft said. "We have experience, but we're looking to use it."

But don't paint this as a like-for-like comparison between last season and this season.

There are some similarities between Edmonton's situation this season and their first-round comeback in 2022 over the Los Angeles Kings, where they had to win on the road to earn the opportunity to win the series on home ice and advance to the second round.

This year, they'll have to do it at home first before venturing back to Vegas for a potential Game 7.

Coach Woodcroft is downplaying the connections to last season's turnaround against LA, but the experience they gained in going through the challenge is the only takeaway from last season that can be applied here tonight at Rogers Place.

"I see the narrative or trying to wrap it up in a bowl similar to last season, but in the end, we're supremely confident in our group and we have good experiences," he said. "We have battle scars, but good experiences.

"For us, the most important thing is when you have experience, you have to use it, so we're excited about our opportunity tonight. We're going to play our best game, we'll be the best version of ourselves and we'll be ready to compete."

The Oilers had the challenge of going into a tough building in Crypto.com Arena in last year's playoffs and earning a result with the simple approach of just winning one hockey game to continue their season.

Tonight will be no different.

"You can definitely reflect back on those moments and take from that experience. This is not an impossible feat," McDavid said. "All we have to worry about is one game and go from there. So today that's our focus, our only focus, and we'll see what we can do."

"Certainly it's a good experience to lean on, having the confidence that we've been in the city situation before and been able to pull through," Nurse added. "So obviously, it just starts tonight and you got to win a game tonight."

"I think it's shown that there's not much momentum that carries over from game to game. Each game is different, and I think we're going to have our best in the series tonight."

LINEUP NOTES

Coach Woodcroft has kept his lineup decisions close to his chest all playoffs, including who'll be in between the pipes for the Oilers during an elimination scenario on Sunday night.

Stuart Skinner was pulled for the third time this postseason on Friday night after only being taken out of a game twice in the regular season, conceding four goals on 18 shots in Game 6 before Jack Campbell came in and made all nine stops in relief.

But Skinner's bounce-back ability has been well-documented, winning all three games after being pulled in Game 3 of the first round against the Kings and Games 3 & 5 of this series against the Golden Knights.

"Every time, he's bounced back," McDavid said. "It's a credit to his character and we should expect the same thing."

Forward Klim Kostin didn't participate in the morning skate, but it wasn't confirmed by Coach Woodcroft in his morning media availability if the Russian would be able to go after taking plenty of hits and blocked shots this series.

"We'll see what comes out the gate tonight," Woodcroft said.

-- Jamie Umbach, EdmontonOilers.com

PREVIEW

OILERS vs. GOLDEN KNIGHTS

STREAM: 8:00 p.m. MT; televised on Sportsnet & CBC

Oilers Team Scope

It will be do or die for the Oilers when the puck drops on Sunday night at Rogers Place.

Edmonton must do what no team has been able to do yet in the second-round series with the Vegas Golden Knights, win two games in a row.

The Oilers found themselves on the receiving end of the 3-2 series deficit courtesy of a 4-3 loss at T-Mobile Arena on Friday night. The game was one that the Oilers seemed to have well within their control until a 5-on-3 power play sent things spiralling out of control.

Like they had done in every game of the series, the Oilers took the lead early in the first period. It was Connor McDavid who did the damage on the power play, finishing off a sharp-angle shot by Adin Hill for his sixth of the playoffs.

The man advantage was where the Oilers did the majority of their work in Game 5, with all three of their goals coming with a Vegas player in the penalty box. Zach Hyman was the next recipient of a PPG after he redirected a Ryan Nugent-Hopkins shot-pass into the net for his third goal of the postseason.

The Oilers carried their 2-1 advantage for most of the second period until disaster struck as a flurry of penalties contributed to three Vegas goals in the span of 1:29. Edmonton brought the game within one after McDavid buried his second of the game with Keegan Kolesar serving a five-minute major penalty for boarding Mattias Ekholm. The Oilers captain scored in trademark fashion, cutting through a swath of Vegas defenders and burning Brayden McNabb with speed for the 4-3 tally, but that was as close as the Oilers would get on the night.

Regardless of Friday's result, the Oilers players and coaches know the task at hand and still feel assured in their ability to prolong the series.

"Confident. Yeah, confident," Head Coach Jay Woodcroft said of the team's mindset. "We love the way we've played in our building all year. We've had a mindset here for the last year and a half about taking care of the day's business. We have a challenge before us. We're going to go home and we're going to play our best game at home and get back on a flight and come down to Vegas to challenge in game seven."

Golden Knights Team Scope

The Golden Knights have the chance to advance to the Western Conference final for the fourth time in their brief franchise history on Sunday night, but to do so they will have to overcome a resilient Oilers squad and a vocal Rogers Place crowd.

The Knights trio of Mark Stone, Jonathan Marchessault, and Jack Eichel have done the heavy lifting for the majority of the series for the Vegas squad, and their presence was definitely felt in Friday's Game 5.

Eichel scored the first Golden Knights goal, when he picked up the puck in the corner and made a power move by Stuart Skinner to tuck the puck inside the far post for his sixth of the postseason. The former second-overall pick also added two assists in a three point night to push his series point total to eight.

Eichel's goal was the extent of the Vegas offence until the 90 seconds of the second period that completely changed the outlook of the game and potentially the series. The Golden Knights were given a 5-on-3 power-play due to a Philip Broberg holding call and a Mattias Janmark high-sticking infraction.

Mark Stone and Reilly Smith capitalized with the Blue & Orange duo in the box, scoring a pair of power-play goals just 34 seconds apart. Nicolas Hague added to the Oilers misery before the end of the period, lofting a point shot that knuckled behind Skinner and stood as the game winner.

By The Numbers

The Oilers have won seven consecutive Game 6's, with their last loss coming against Dallas in 2003... Vegas has lost four of their last five Game 6's... Edmonton is 3-6 all-time when trailing a series 3-2... In the last seven games the Oilers have played in while facing elimination, Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl have combined for 23 points... Edmonton is 4-0 after a loss in the postseason and 6-0 after a defeat since March 11...

The Oilers are 12-2-1 in their last 15 home games and are averaging 4.27 goals-per game in that time... Edmonton has a +52 shot-attempt differential in the playoffs so far, while Vegas is at -26... The Oilers have scored in the first five minutes of a game six times this postseason... Edmonton's 21 first-period goals is the most in the playoffs and 10 more than the second place Seattle Kraken... The Oilers 18-for-38 mark on the power play has the team sitting at 47.4 per cent with a man advantage which is an NHL record for teams who have played at least 10 games...

Injury Report

OILERS - Ryan Murray (back) is on LTIR; Mike Smith (undisclosed) is on LTIR; Oscar Klefbom (shoulder) is on LTIR.

GOLDEN KNIGHTS - Laurent Brossoit (lower body) is out; Logan Thompson (lower body) is out; Nolan Patrick (upper body) is on LTIR; Nolan Patrick (upper body) is on LTIR; Robin Lehner (hip) is on LTIR.

-- Michael Arcuri, EdmontonOilers.com