LAS VEGAS — You should never overlook the obvious, especially when it comes to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

In the case of the Vegas Golden Knights against the Edmonton Oilers, that means Jack Eichel, Mark Stone, Shea Theodore against Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. Best-on-best, big-boy hockey.

But don’t overlook the small things. For if you do, chances are you’ll get beat.

Bruce Cassidy’s attention to detail will be put to the test against Edmonton, starting Tuesday at T-Mobile Arena. Does he match up Eichel against McDavid, in the renewal of the two top draft picks from 2015? Does he keep William Karlsson together with Eichel and Stone, which helped mitigate Minnesota’s top line of Kirill Kaprizov, Joel Eriksson Ek and Matt Boldy in the first round?

Will he have Pavel Dorofeyev available after the Knights’ leading goal scorer in the regular season was injured during the first round and missed the final two games?

Does he keep defenseman Alex Pietrangelo away from McDavid and Draisaitl in favor of faster skaters such as Noah Hanifin and Theodore?

And how do the Knights deal with Calvin Pickard, the veteran journeyman goaltender who has supplanted Stewart Skinner in net for the Oilers?

So many questions. But to get the answers, don’t go looking to the past. This is a different team than the one that beat Edmonton two years ago en route to the Stanley Cup championship. The Oilers have a new coach in Chris Knoblauch. A new general manager in Stan Bowman. A different goalie this time around in Pickard, the first-ever VGK pick in the 2017 expansion draft but never made the opening night roster that year.

When general manager Kelly McCrimmon retooled the VGK roster in the off-season and during the year, he did so with a win-now mentality. He thought Tanner Pearson had something left and he was right. He thought Brandon Saad could still play and he was right. He re-acquired Reilly Smith before the trade deadline in March knowing Smith would fit Cassidy’s system and be a productive part of the roster in the postseason. Right again.

What did all three moves have in common? They all involved veteran players who have their name on the Cup.

“We expect a tough series,” McCrimmon said of facing the Oilers. “They’re healthier than they’ve been in a long time. They’ll tell you their depth was a big factor in their series against Los Angeles. Their team is different from any other team in the NHL because of those two guys.”

But McCrimmon did something else this year. He locked up Theodore, Adin Hill, Brayden McNabb, Brett Howden and Keegan Kolesar to remain with the Knights instead of potentially losing them as UFA’s this summer. All have had career years and have played a role in the team’s success.

That kind of roster stability goes a long way to helping players relax. They don’t have to worry about contracts, staying or having to move on and it keeps the locker room loose.

But none of that guarantees anything. For Vegas to advance to the Western Conference Finals against either Winnipeg or Dallas, both of which moved on with come-from-behind Game 7 victories in their first-round series, the Knights better do the little things right.

It starts with winning faceoffs. In hockey, possession is 10/10ths of the law. If you have the puck, the other team can’t score. And if McDavid doesn’t have the puck, he can’t beat you. The Knights were good at the dot against Minnesota, with Eichel, Tomas Hertl and Nic Roy winning the majority of the draws. They’ll need to continue that against the Oilers.

It also means staying out of the penalty box. Edmonton’s power play is lethal, ranked No. 2 in the NHL during the first round of the playoffs (38.5 percent). So if you’re going to take penalties (Vegas committed the fewest infractions in the NHL during the regular season), make them count. No offensive zone penalties, no self-inflicted miscues such as too many men on the ice or delay of game for air-mailing the puck over the glass.

Cassidy has praised his team’s collective high hockey IQ. That probably has contributed to the low amount of penalties the Knights take. That needs to continue.

“We have a lot of guys who play the right way,” said McNabb. “You put it all together as a team it looks pretty good out there.”

Theodore, McNabb’s regular blue line partner, said the moves McCrimmon made has boosted the team’s IQ.

“It’s a different team,” Theodore said when asked to compare the smarts to the Cup winning team of 2023. “We’ve added some pieces to this year’s team. We added (Brandon) Saad. Hanny (Hanifin) has been here for a year now. We have had Hertl for a year. They’re good guys in the room but definitely have high hockey IQ’s for sure.”  

Hockey IQ also comes into play when it comes to managing the game late in the third period. If you watched St. Louis blow its 3-1 lead to Winnipeg in Game 7 Sunday, it was because the Blues didn’t play smart. They repeatedly iced the puck. They didn’t kill precious seconds by keeping the puck tied up along the boards and they didn’t account for Jets players in front of their goal.

If Vegas has the lead late, look for Cassidy to use Eichel and Stone, his two smartest players, for extended periods in order to preserve the win.
“It’s important to be ready for any situation,” said Roy. “Our coaches do a really good job in preparing us for every situation so we know what to do.”

But between the smarts, the depth and the skill, the Knights are as prepared as anyone to deal with McDavid, Draisaitl and the Oilers. Whether it will result in success as it did in 2023, we shall see.