Two teams that have combined to win the past three Western Conference titles will face off in the first of four regular-season meetings when the Vegas Golden Knights visit the Edmonton Oilers on Sunday night.
It’s a bounce-back game for both teams, who come in off losses in the first game of back-to-backs on Saturday. Vegas had an eight-game point streak snapped at Calgary, 6-3, while Edmonto, lost to the red-hot Minnesota Wild, 5-2, in Saint Paul, Minn.
The Oilers, who have won the past two Western Conference titles only to lose to the Florida Panthers in the Stanley Cup Final, eliminated Vegas in five games in the second round of the playoffs last May while the Golden Knights knocked off Edmonton in six games in the second round in 2023 en route to winning the Stanley Cup.
So it’s fair to say both teams have had Sunday’s game circled on their calendars.
“It’s war out there,” Golden Knights defenseman Keegan Kolesar replied when asked to describe what games against the Oilers is like. “There’s not much room given, there’s no sitting back and relaxing. … They beat us last year (in the playoffs) and we’ve beaten them in the past. Right from game one I expect there is going to be some bad blood between us.”
“They’ve been to the (Stanley Cup) Final two years in a row, so they have the Western Conference and it’s a measuring stick game,” added defenseman Brayden McNabb.
It will be the sixth game in nine days for Edmonton, which won three of five games on its road trip.
“Looking forward to it,” Oilers defenseman Darnell Nurse said. “I think obviously it’s a big divisional game against a team that we played a lot these last couple years, and I think everyone will be up for that one.”
Edmonton fell behind 2-0 against the Wild but rallied to tie it on goals by Andrew Mangiapane, his first in 22 games, and a power-play score by Connor McDavid. But Ryan Hartman put Minnesota back in front, 3-2, with just eight seconds left in the first period, and Vladimir Tarasenko and Nico Sturm added third-period goals to help Minnesota win its seventh straight game.
“It was nice to score, but it would have been better with two points,” Mangiapane said of his first goal since Nov. 3. “It was a close battle. We did a good job fighting, being down 2-0 and coming back, but it’s tough one to let up there (to Hartman). It’s a good thing we play tomorrow to get right back at it.”
Vegas fell behind 3-1 in the first period and trailed 5-1 midway through the second period before getting goals from Kaedan Korczak and Mark Stone to close to within two with 3:57 remaining. But Jonathan Huberdeau then sealed the win for the Flames with an empty-netter.
“Just move on, jump on a plane,” Golden Knights forward Reilly Smith said when asked how his team can regroup. “There’s two points we can get tomorrow, and we just have to be focused on that. It’s as simple as just turning the page.”
-Field Level Media
