LAS VEGAS — The Vegas Golden Knights have the Edmonton Oilers on the playoff ropes of their second-round sequence.
The Oilers want a win at house Sunday to keep away from elimination and pressure a Game 7 finale in Las Vegas on Tuesday.
Edmonton is the one Canadian crew left in Stanley Cup rivalry this 12 months and faces an uphill battle to remain in it.
Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft shifted consideration away from that situation Saturday to the Golden Knights attempting to turn out to be the primary crew within the sequence to win two straight and shut it out on the street.
“We know this having been on the other side of it,” Woodcroft mentioned earlier than leaving Las Vegas. “When you get to looking for the fourth win of the sequence, the stress shifts to that crew. We know the place the stress lies on this state of affairs. That’s on Vegas attempting to come back to our constructing and shut us out in Edmonton.
“We’re looking to go home, play our best game and hold serve.”
The Golden Knights received 4-3 at house in Game 5 with every membership lacking a premier defenseman serving a one-game suspensions.
Edmonton’s Darnell Nurse and the Golden Knights’ Alex Pietrangelo will each be again after sitting out Friday evening.
“He’s an emotional catalyst for us,” Woodcroft mentioned of Nurse. “He’s our do-it-right guy on the back end. He’s someone who we missed yesterday, but we’re excited to have coming in game number six.”
Nurse was suspended for instigating a battle, whereas Pietrangelo was sanctioned for slashing Leon Draisaitl in Game 4.
Pietrangelo instructed media in Las Vegas he was sweating watching his crew play Friday when he couldn’t.
“It’s an emotional roller-coaster when you’re watching that’s for sure,” he mentioned. “The guys who were watching with me thought I was crazy. I don’t want to be in that situation again.”
The Golden Knights scored two power-play objectives – their first power-play objectives since Game 1 of the sequence – and augmented that with two even-strength objectives Friday.
While the Oilers proceed to lean into their energy play, which is changing at 40% within the sequence, they’ve been outproduced in even-strength objectives at 13-8 in favor of Vegas.
After a torrid 13 objectives in his first eight playoff video games, Draisaitl’s manufacturing has dried up the final two video games. Oilers captain Connor McDavid, a nominee for this 12 months’s Hart Trophy as NHL MVP, has scored one even-strength purpose amongst his seven within the playoffs.
Edmonton’s goaltender Stuart Skinner was changed by Jack Campbell within the second interval for the second time in three video games Friday, though Woodcroft insisted that wasn’t a mirrored image of the 24-year-old’s efficiency.
“He’s given us a chance to win,” Woodcroft mentioned. “I’ve pulled him a couple times, but in those pulls that was more to either stem the tide of momentum or to try and change something up. Those are on the team. They’re not on one individual.”
Woodcroft wouldn’t reveal Saturday if Skinner would begin once more Sunday or if Campbell would get his first of the playoffs.
“Going to reserve the right to take the time we have before we have to make that decision,” Woodcroft mentioned.
Friday’s recreation turned on Vegas scoring a second-period, 5-on-3 purpose, adopted by one other power-play purpose 29 seconds later when the puck bounced off the skate of McDavid into the open for Reilly Smith to comb into the web.
The Knights rapidly parlayed that momentum into an even-strength purpose for a trio of strikes in an 89-second span.
“The game-changer was the 5-on-3,” Woodcroft mentioned. “That allowed them to get some momentum. They hadn’t scored on the power play in a long time. They found a little confidence by scoring 5-on-3, and then they got a break to make it 3-2 a few seconds after that.”
Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy mentioned following Friday’s recreation that even earlier than his crew’s three-goal burst, the Oilers lacked the tempo they’d had in a 4-1 win in Game 4.
“They didn’t have the same jump that they certainly had in Edmonton in Game 4,” Cassidy mentioned. “We needed to take advantage of that. I think our players sensed it, to be perfectly honest. They just didn’t have the same drive and intensity they had up there. … The physicality that they showed in Game 4 wasn’t quite as evident. It could be that time of the series where you don’t want to do anything to put your team at a disadvantage.”
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