1. This season marks the eighth that the Golden Knights have been in the NHL. It may not feel like the case, but the Oilers have posted an 18-9-2 record in 29 games against the Golden Knights. In fact, there\u2019s no team the Golden Knights have struggled with more in the NHL than the Oilers, posting a meagre .448 points percentage \u2014 the worst against any opponent in the league.<\/p>\n
The Oilers are 4-2-1 in season series\u2019 against the Golden Knights. Vegas bested the Oilers in the 2018-19 and 2019-20 series, and while the two teams split games last year, the Oilers have won every other series.<\/p>\n
2.\u00a0Tonight marks their first chance to claim a full-season series sweep. They won Game 1 on Dec. 21 4-3, as Connor McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins had three-point nights, and Connor Ingram posted a .903 save percentage. Game 2 came on March 8, a 4-2 win, as Trent Frederic opened the scoring in the second period, and the Oilers got offence from multiple lines. Win No. 3 came on March 26, a 4-3 win, as McDavid posted a three-point game.<\/p>\n
3. That being said, all three of those games came with Bruce Cassidy as their head coach. He was replaced last week by John Tortorella, who has coached the Golden Knights to two straight wins over the Vancouver Canucks (4-2) and the Calgary Flames (6-3). While those two teams are at the bottom of the league, the Oilers surely aren\u2019t, and will provide Torts\u2019 team its toughest test yet.<\/p>\n
4. Goaltending continues to be a major issue for the Golden Knights, posting a .887 save percentage (Sv%) at five-on-five over their last 10 games, a .813 in shorthanded situations, and a .867 in all situations. All the while, they\u2019re only giving up 21.3 shots against per hour of ice time, and giving up just 1.9 expected goals against per hour. Adin Hill is projected to start tonight for the Golden Knights.<\/p>\n
5. On the contrary, Edmonton\u2019s goaltending has been coming up big for them. The Oilers have posted a .907 save percentage in their last 10 games, including a .935 in their five-game winning-streak, the second-best mark in the league over that stretch.<\/p>\n
\u2018What they said\u2026Kasperi Kapanen on<\/a> playing a familiar team, and one that could be a playoff matchup\u2026<\/p>\n \u201cThe team\u2019s feeling great right now. We\u2019ve played against them a bunch and we know what they\u2019re all about, so it\u2019s going to be a big matchup obviously in the standings and just in general for if we play in the playoffs. It\u2019ll be a fun one tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n Kapanen on playing for home-ice advantage\u2026<\/p>\n \u201cYou always want to finish first and get that home-ice advantage. I think that\u2019s huge, especially for the playoffs. It\u2019s very important, so every single game right now counts, and we just have to keep it up right now.\u201d<\/p>\n Tortorella on<\/a> what changes he\u2019s making behind the bench\u2026<\/p>\n \u201cWe have emphasized so much as far as checking forward, playing aggressive, moving the puck forward, pressuring, so you get aggressive. It\u2019s our job now as coaches, and this always happens, to coach them to an area where we\u2019re not crazy as far as some situations without playing safe. You have to find that happy medium. I would rather coach a team that is over-aggressive rather than trying to get a team to play aggressive. We have good people. We\u2019ll get there.\u201d<\/p>\n Final word\u2026<\/p>\n The Oilers need a big performance tonight as they look to extend their winning streak to six games and keep themselves in a good spot to contend for the division lead. Edmonton will hit the road next week, visiting the Utah Mammoth on Tuesday, the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday and the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday.<\/p>\n Zach Laing is Oilersnation\u2019s managing editor, and The Nation Network\u2019s news director. He also makes up one-half of the Daily Faceoff DFS Hockey Report<\/a>. He can be followed on X at @zjlaing<\/a>, or reached by email at zach.laing@bettercollective.com.The Nation Playoff Draft Party \u2014 Team Sign-Up Now Open![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775333661_671_image.png\"\/)
<\/a>Edmonton hockey fans \u2014 think you and your crew know playoff hockey? Prove it at the\u00a0Nation Playoff Draft Party\u00a0on\u00a0Friday, April 17th at the River Cree Resort & Casino.\u00a0Build your playoff roster, compete against other teams throughout the postseason, and battle for\u00a0$2,500 cash and Nation bragging rights.\u00a0Team entry is\u00a0$1,000 for groups of 8, which includes dinner and your first bevy. The night will be hosted by\u00a0Ryder & Lisa from The Sauce\u00a0and\u00a0Tyler & Liam from ON Everyday, so expect plenty of energy, competition, and chirps.\u00a0Spots are limited \u2014 sign your team up now at\u00a0nationgear.ca<\/a>.\u00a0All proceeds from the event support\u00a0KidSport Edmonton, helping ensure local kids can stay in the game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Game Notes: Oilers seek season sweep of Golden Knights, top spot in Pacific Division The Edmonton Oilers have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":540850,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5129],"tags":[149,5317,5,4,74,39,5316],"class_list":{"0":"post-540849","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-vegas-golden-knights","8":"tag-golden-knights","9":"tag-goldenknights","10":"tag-hockey","11":"tag-nhl","12":"tag-vegas","13":"tag-vegas-golden-knights","14":"tag-vegasgoldenknights"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116348274699646446","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=540849"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540849\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/540850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=540849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=540849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=540849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}