The Edmonton Oilers have a chance tonight to move on to the Western Conference Finals for the 3rd time in the past 4 years. In 2022 they lost to the Colorado Avalanche in 4 games then in 2024 they were able to beat the Dallas Stars to get themselves to the Cup final. As they look to get there again, they still must win one of the next three games, for the sake of rest I hope they win the game tonight,
The Oilers are coming off what may have been their best performance all playoffs so far. They beat the Vegas Golden Knights by a score of 3-0, but it wasn't just the score that impressed me. They Oilers were better than the Knights in every aspect of the game, they were the more physical team, and you could see that had an effect on the Knights, especially on their goalie Adin Hill, who appeared to come unraveled a bit early on in that game.
Then there were the obvious points that the Oilers were better both offensively and defensively. The Oilers outshot the Knights by a total of 32-23, including outshooting them 25-12 after the first two periods. Even with the Knights pushing their hardest in the 3rd they could still only muster up 11 shots. If the Oilers can play that solid defensively again, they have a great chance to move on.
To their forwards now, the Oilers depth has been excellent this series. While McDavid does have 6 points in the 4 games, he doesn't seem as dominate as he can, and the same can be said about Draisaitl and his 5 points. If the Oilers depth players can keep rolling the way they have been and McDavid and Draisaitl have a solid game, then the Knights have no chance.
My concern for the Oilers is that they are going to show up to tonight's game lackadaisical and lazy. We have seen this from the Oilers in the past, but I do not think that will happen tonight. The Oilers still remeber what happened 2 years ago to them against the Golden Knights. The Knights beat the Oilers then went on the win the Cup, the Oilers hope to flip that narrative this time around.
A win tonight would not only advance the Edmonton Oilers to the next round, but it would also give the Oilers a few extra days off. While the Stars do sit up 3 games to 1 over the Jets their game 5 is in Winnipeg, a place where the Jets tend to play better, so this series could go to at least 6 games and that would mean the earliest the Oilers would play again if they won tonight would be Tuesday. Given how tough the playoffs can be any extra days off are a welcome surprise.