PREVIEW: Oilers at Golden Knights

The Edmonton Oilers close out their three-game road trip against the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday night at T-Mobile Arena looking to earn their fourth straight victory.

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PREVIEW: Oilers at Golden Knights

LAS VEGAS, NV – Let’s raise the stakes.

With a three-game win streak intact, the Edmonton Oilers will venture into T-Mobile Arena on Tuesday night with the chance to pull within three points of the Pacific Division lead with a victory over the Vegas Golden Knights.

The Oilers showed their character in the first game of their current three-game road trip, coming back from a 2-0 deficit against Utah Hockey Club after 20 minutes on Friday to beat the NHL’s newest franchise 4-3 in overtime during the first-ever meeting between the two clubs in Salt Lake City.

Edmonton built on that performance on Saturday in Denver, defeating the Colorado Avalanche 4-1 in the second of back-to-back games. Stuart Skinner made 27 saves, and 11 different Oilers recorded points in the win that moved their record to 13-9-2 this season and 7-2-1 in their last ten games.

“We're an older team in here. We've played a lot of games,” said Connor McDavid, who’s riding a five-game point streak for the 43^rd time in his career after assisting on Kasperi Kapanen’s first goal as an Oiler against Colorado.

“There’s a lot of guys with a lot of games in here who can win games different ways, and obviously, it wasn’t an ideal way to play a game in Utah, where we took on a lot of water, but we still found a way to win. Then, going into a tough Colorado rink on a back-to-back, I thought it was a real good win.”

The Oilers will have to be on top of their game on Tuesday night beneath the lights of Las Vegas at T-Mobile Arena, where the challenge of facing the Golden Knights is always a tall task considering the history these two clubs have, including their 2023 meeting in the Second Round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

You can always get one past the House in Vegas, but you can just as easily lose it all, and the Blue & Orange aren’t interested in losing the high chip count they've built up over recent positive results.

“I think we're always trying to grow our game, always trying to build momentum and just when you think you have, you know it can stop just as quickly,” McDavid said. “So it’s a big test here tomorrow night against a division rival and it’s a game to get up for, for sure.”

The Golden Knights lead the Pacific Division with a 15-7-3 record but are coming off one of the biggest losses in their franchise’s brief history, a 6-0 defeat to Utah on Saturday night.

Vegas has lost three of their last four games at T-Mobile Arena after starting the season 8-0 on home ice, so there will be plenty of jump in their game to try and reverse their recent home fortunes in a four-point game on Tuesday.

Vegas has always been a place that Edmonton likes to play, and their well-travelled fans who make the trip down to Nevada always provide an extra boost for the Oilers in an always-tough matchup.

“Yeah, It's a lot of fun. The energy is always great,” McDavid said. “The Oilers fans travel well. We’re always well-supported here from the Oiler fans. It’s a special environment to play in, but more so, I think it's the test of the group. On the other side, they're a team that's won and it’s a fun challenge for us.

“A lot of it had to do with a good playoff series a few years ago,” Head Coach Kris Knoblauch added. “And the other part of it is it’s just two good teams – two teams that feel that they are near the top of the NHL.”

It was a welcome sight for the Oilers to see forward Zach Hyman on the ice for Monday’s full-team skate at T-Mobile Arena, where the winger rotated in while wearing a bottom-six blue jersey as he tries to get back into the lineup before the end of their current road trip.

Hyman has missed the last four games for the Oilers due to injury and will be evaluated on Tuesday morning before making the decision on whether he’ll suit up against the Golden Knights.

“We'll decide that tomorrow. He's getting very close, but we'll see,” Knoblauch said.

“He's a guy who does everything well. A lot of it is getting on the forecheck and winning those little battles. And then, of course, the goal-scoring. It's about preventing goals and putting them in the net, and he's pretty good at both those. He’s a guy who’s good in possession, good in the offensive zone, good at holding the puck and making other teams defend. But ultimately, just being able to score goals is something that’s very important.”

Forward Kasperi Kapanen has done a terrific job at filling for Hyman, recording a goal and assist in his four games with the Oilers since being claimed off waivers from the St. Louis Blues on Nov. 19. The Finnish forward has been a fit alongside McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins on the top line with his speed and tenacity, along with being a part of Edmonton’s improved penalty kill in recent games.

“He's part of our six-man [PK] rotation for the forwards, and we've got Nugent-Hopkins and Rico as our first pair, then Brownie and Janny, and then Pods and Kappy,” Knoblauch said. “We feel comfortable with him because he's done this kill before, and another thing is that he skates well. He can attack and pressure and skate, and we rely on that quite a bit from our forwards.”

Kapanen’s penalty-kill partner, Vasily Podkolzin, scored in a third straight game against the Avalanche on Saturday and currently owns the NHL’s longest goal-scoring streak.

Defenceman Troy Stecher put forward an assist on Saturday night for the third straight game as well and is proving to be a valuable piece of the Oilers blue line next to Darnell Nurse after coming in as Edmonton’s seventh defenceman at last year’s Trade Deadline.

“I think he's delivering as advertised,” Head Coach Knoblauch said. “A smaller guy, hard working and sees the game really well. Last year, he never got much opportunity just because he came in here as our seventh defenceman and then had injury struggles and couldn't get in regularly. But we saw it in practice. His compete level and his attention to detail are really good, and now this year having the opportunity… he's earned that spot and he's been playing really well with Darnell.”