The Vegas Golden Knights and the Edmonton Oilers meet in NHL action from Rogers Place on Saturday afternoon.
The Vegas Golden Knights will look to build on a 6-1 win over the Calgary Flames in their last matchup. Jonathan Marchessault leads Vegas with 63 points with a team-high 29 goals this year while Chandler Stephenson has 57 points with 17 goals and a team-high 40 assists. Shea Theodore’s got 45 points with 32 assists of his own this season. Reilly Smith’s also got 38 points with 16 goals and 22 apples. Alex Pietrangelo also has 41 points with 13 goals and 28 assists. Robin Lehner’s seen the bulk of the action between the pipes for Vegas, going 23-16-2 with a 2.82 GAA and a .907 save percentage this season.
The Edmonton Oilers will look to build on their 4-0 win over the Nashville Predators last time out. Connor McDavid leads the Oilers in scoring with 110 points with 42 goals and a team-high 68 assists while Leon Draisaitl has 105 points with a team-high 54 goals and 51 assists. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has 46 points with 36 assists and Zach Hyman has 50 points with 24 goals this season. Mikko Koskinen has seen the bulk of Edmonton’s action in goal, going 25-11-4 with a 3.09 GAA and a .902 save percentage while Stuart Skinner has gone 6-6 with a 2.62 GAA and a .913 save percentage and Mike Smith’s 12-9-2 with a 3.04 GAA and a .907 save percentage this season.
Vegas is 7-2 in their last 9 games overall and 1-5 in their last 6 games as a road underdog while the over is 6-1 in their last 7 games against a team with a winning record. Edmonton is 7-2 in their last 9 games overall and 18-5 in their last 23 division games while the over is 11-2 in their last 13 games as a favorite.
I get the case to be made for Edmonton at home as the Oilers are playing some solid hockey. However, the Golden Knights are getting healthy and even when they weren’t, they were finding ways to win without their best guys because it’s what needed when you’re on the outside looking in this time of year. The Oilers need this game to maintain their playoff spot, but a playoff spot is not something the Golden Knights have. I think Vegas needs this one just a bit more and they get the win at some solid value here.