The Edmonton Oilers have a chance to truly make history with a win over the Vegas Golden Knights tonight.
The Edmonton Oilers have a chance to truly make history with a win over the Vegas Golden Knights tonight.
EDMONTON -- The Edmonton Oilers take their 16 game win streak into the Nevada desert to play against their heated playoff rivals - the Vegas Golden Knights. This will be their second of three meetings this season, with the first one concluding in a 5-4 shootout victory for the Oilers.
Aside from Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl and their participation in the All-Star game, the rest of the team has had nine days off since their last game. Despite the long break, it's business as usual for the team and coaching staff.
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Kris Knoblauch told the media yesterday that they are "treating it like every other game." He expanded on that a bit further by saying, "obviously Vegas is a very good hockey team and I'm sure it's going to be a good hockey game and we just need to [hopefully] bring our game that we've been playing previously to the break."
Key to the Game
Knoblauch said it best with his availability - the Oilers need to bring their game that they have been playing up to the All-Star break. The Golden Knights are a great team - but they are only five points ahead of them in the standings. A win against them tonight would cut the deficit down to three points, and they would still have five games in hand.
For the Oilers to win, it needs to be a team effort. But that's been the story for this whole win streak. McDavid has averaged 1.62 points per game over this win streak, but the powerplay hasn't been spectacular.
The penalty kill has completely shut the door on opponents. Their ability to play defense was solid - although the last three games before the break the players and coaches acknowledged that they hadn't been playing things as tight as they wanted to.
The break is good for them, in that regard. Players got a chance to catch their breath - for the plunge that is the final stretch of games from now until the end of the season in April.
Game Predictions
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Game time will be at 8 PM Mountain time. The game will be available on Sportsnet and TVA Sports.
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