Everything You Need to Know About Tonight's Oilers vs Knights Game 1

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Dylan Robillard
May 3, 2023 (11:55)

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The Stanley Cup Playoffs is now down to eight teams who are now in four best-of-7 series, which started last night on Tuesday.

The Edmonton Oilers are coming off a huge first round series win over the Los Angeles Kings. Now they turn to the other side of the kingdom to battle the Las Vegas Golden Knights.

Team Records:
Golden Knights: 51-22-9, 111 points; 4-1 win first round against Winnipeg Jets

Oilers: 50-23-9, 109 points; 4-2 win first round against Los Angeles Kings

Season series: VGK 1-2-1; EDM 3-0-1

GAME 1: Wednesday (9:30 p.m. ET)
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Game 2: Saturday, May 6 (7:00 p.m. ET)
Game 3: Monday, May 8 (8:30 p.m. ET)
Game 4: Wednesday, May 10 (10:00 p.m. ET)
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Game 5: Friday, May 12 (TBD, If Necessary)
Game 6: Sunday, May 14 (TBD, If Necessary)
Game 7: Tuesday, May 16 (TBD, If Necessary)

Watch all games on: ESPN, SN, CBC, TVAS

The Pacific division was a dog fight all year long for the Pacific Division title, the Knights (111) finished 2 points ahead of the Oilers (109).
The slim margin between teams earned Vegas home-ice advantage, which could be huge in this series as both arenas will be jammed back.

There are stars all over the ice in this series for both sides. Vegas has Jack Eichel, who is in his first postseason of his career, Chandler Stephenson (8 points in 5 games), Alex Pietrangelo (5 assists in 5 games). The Oilers match gold with blue as they have Leon Draisaitl (11 points in 6 games), Connor McDavid (10 points in 6 games), and Evan Bouchard who has stepped up in these playoffs with 10 points in 6 games. The 2 top draft picks of the 2015 draft will go head-to-head.
McDavid was chosen No. 1; Eichel chosen No. 2.

The big part of this series that could be the deciding factor with all this star power is goaltending. Both Oilers-Knights goalies are very young and have had little to no playoff experience before this season.

Laurent Brossoit is 4-1-0 with a 2.42 GAA and .915 SV%. Brossoit actually started his career with the Oilers in 2014-15.

Stuart Skinner, is a Calder Trophy candidate as rookie of the year who is making his first appearance in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. He is riding a 3-2-0 record with 3.43 GAA and .890 SV%. His stats don't tell the whole story, as he has bailed out the Oilers multiple times.

Key Players:
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Golden Knights: Mark Stone, missed the last three months of the regular season after sustaining a back injury that required surgery, returning for Game 1 of the playoffs. He finished the first round with eight points (three goals, five assists), tied for the team lead with Chandler Stephenson.

Oilers: Connor McDavid. There are no two ways about it, yes Leon Draisaitl leads the team currently but McDavid hold a 1.51 points per playoff game. The fourth-best among forwards with at least 40 appearances. Wayne Gretzky (1.84), Draisaitl (1.63) and Mario Lemieux (1.61) are the players ahead of him.

Projected Lineups:
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Las Vegas Golden Knights 12F/6D

Michael Amadio - Jack Eichel - Jonathan Marchessault

Reilly Smith - William Karlsson - Phil Kessel

Brett Howden - Chandler Stephenson - Mark Stone

Ivan Barbashev - Nicolas Roy - Keegan Kolesar

Alec Martinez - Alex Pietrangelo

Brayden McNabb - Shea Theodore

Nicolas Hague - Zach Whitecloud

Laurent Brossoit
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Scratched: Paul Cotter, Kaedan Korczak, Brayden Pachal, Teddy Blueger, Pavel Dorofeyev, Ben Hutton, Jonathan Quick

Injured: William Carrier (lower body), Logan Thompson (undisclosed)