The Edmonton Oilers are back in action today as they face the Pacific Division leading Vegas Golden Knights. The Oilers who are currently in 3rd place in the division are 9 points behind the Knights and with only 9 games remaining for both of these teams it is safe to say that the Oilers will not be closing that gap. The main battle now is for second place between the Oilers and the Los Angeles Kings. Right now as it sits the Kings have 2 more points than the Oilers do. The Kings are playing the Winnipeg Jets tonight, so both these teams have a tough opponent.
The Oilers right now though a fairly injured team, and not just depth players. They are missing major players like Connor McDavid and Mattias Ekholm. These two players make up their best forward and arguably their best defenseman. No one would blame the Oilers if they were to lose this game, but this Oilers team always ups their game against the Golden Knights, so I still expect this game to be tight even though the Oilers are heading into it shorthanded.
Edmonton Oilers Lines
The @EdmontonOilers morning skate:
— Bob Stauffer (@Bob_Stauffer) April 1, 2025
Podkolzin-Draisaitl-Arvidsson
Hyman-RNH-Kapanen
Skinner-Janmark-Brown
Jones-Henrique-Perry
(McDavid, Frederic, Kane-LTIR, all on ice)
Walman-Bouchard
Nurse-Stecher
Kulak-Emberson
Pickard
Rodrigue
Vegas Golden Knights Lines
VGK lines at morning skate prior to tonight's game with EDM
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) April 1, 2025
Barbashev-Eichel-Stone
Saad-Roy-Dorofeyev
Olofsson-Karlsson-Smith
Pearson-Howden-Kolesar
McNabb-Theodore
Hanifin-Whitecloud
Hague-Korczak
*Pietrangelo is not on the ice after skating in practice yesterday.*
Like I said above if you look at the rosters themselves it looks like the Oilers are going to be in trouble. Normally I would think you are right, but after watching the way the Oilers played against the Calgary Flames last game showed me that they do have the ability to overcome some adversity. Although there is a big difference between the Flames and Golden Knights skill wise, but when it comes to desperation the Flames were a desperate team. The Golden Knights pretty much have the Pacific Division wrapped up, so they are now focused on making the playoffs. The Oilers need to take advantage of that.
Hot Leon needs to keep going if the Oilers want to have a chance
The NHL's only 50 goal scorer and maybe only 50 goal scorer of the season, Leon Draisaitl, has willed this team to victory several times this year. For the Oilers to win tonight they will need one of the Herculean efforts tonight. Scoring twice against Calgary, Leon now sits at 51 goals and with 9 games left in the season it is not that big of stretch that he could tickle 60 this year.
This should be a game that has a slight playoff feel to it. If these team do what they are supposed to do they will be facing each other in the second round of the playoffs so this game is a bit of a litmus test for both teams. While the Oilers are beat up, they still have a team that is capable of winning tonight.