LAS VEGAS — The last time the Vegas Golden Knights and Edmonton Oilers met in the postseason, there were 312 combined penalty minutes, suspensions handed out to each team’s highest-paid defensemen, and some incredibly compelling hockey.
The 2023 second-round series was a barn-burner, with momentum swinging throughout. Elite players made sensational plays for both sides, and there was enough hostility on the ice to birth a rivalry that still lives two years later.
Now the teams are set to meet again, with Game 1 of the second round scheduled for Tuesday night at T-Mobile Arena, and one side’s Stanley Cup aspirations will be dashed too early once more.
“There’s always going to be some sparks when you play that team, and we’ll see when they happen,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said on Saturday. “So I expect that. I expect some physicality and some level of animosity amongst the two teams, and we’ll see where it goes.”
At the most basic level, the Golden Knights and Oilers are rivals because they both want the same thing. As Pacific Division powers, they go through every season knowing there’s a high likelihood they’ll eventually need to go through the other to achieve it.
“It’s just two teams going at it that want to win,” Jack Eichel said. “They have the desire to win and compete at a high level, and that’s the way I look at it.
“They’re a good team. We consider ourselves a good team. We’re just going to go out there and prove who is the better team.”
Eichel is at the heart of one of the most compelling narratives in the series – both in 2023 and again this year. He and Oilers superstar Connor McDavid have forever been linked since being drafted with the No. 1 and No. 2 picks in 2015. Both were brilliant in the matchup two years ago, with Eichel collecting nine points in six games, and McDavid racking up 10.
In the end, Eichel and the Golden Knights came out on top, and he went on to beat McDavid to the ultimate goal: a Stanley Cup championship.
This time, after the Oilers fell one game short of their own championship last season, the Golden Knights expect an even stronger version.
“They’re a hungry hockey team,” Cassidy said. “They were so close (last season, losing in Game 7 of the Cup Final to Florida). Is this going to be the year they say, ‘We’re not going to be denied this year,’ well then you’re in for a hell of a fight. I assume that will be their mindset. That’s what we anticipate.”
In the regular season, Vegas and Edmonton weren’t particularly physical teams. They ranked 27th and 32nd, respectively, in hits. However, in the playoffs they’ve both raised those numbers considerably. Brayden McNabb is one of the Golden Knights’ most physical players, and he expects that trend to continue.
“I’m sure it will be intense,” he said. “They want to win. We want to win. That’s when things ramp up.”
Does that necessarily mean more hits?
“That’s part of the playoffs,” McNabb said. “You want to wear teams down. I thought we did a good job of that in the last series (against Minnesota), and that’s something, no matter who we’re playing, you want to finish checks when you can. It goes a long way the longer the series goes.”
And while healthy competition is the biggest reason for this rivalry, there’s no question the players simply do not like each other.
The animosity of the 2023 series exploded in Game 2. That game featured two fights, six misconduct penalties in the final six minutes and Edmonton forward Evander Kane blowing kisses to Golden Knights fans sitting rinkside. In total, there were 124 penalty minutes (70 for Vegas, which set a playoff franchise record).
It reached its peak in Game 4, when both Alex Pietrangelo and Darnell Nurse earned suspensions for the following game. Pietrangelo’s was for intentionally slashing the forearm of Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl in the final minutes. Nurse’s was for an instigator penalty he picked up in a spirited fight with Nicolas Hague.
It may take some time for the enmity to boil over this time around, but with everything on the line, it certainly feels like it’s coming.
“(The last meeting) was kind of back and forth, with both teams trying to instill their will on the series,” Eichel recalled from 2023. “There were a lot of momentum swings and it was an emotional series. There was a lot to it. I expect another battle.”
Shea Theodore was held scoreless the last time these teams met, but with two goals in the last three games against Minnesota, he’s playing some of his best hockey at the right time.
“We expect a good, hard-fought series,” he said. “I think they’re a different team than when we last played them in the playoffs. They’ve got more experience, and they obviously have two highly-skilled players that can make you pay, so we’re expecting a hard-fought series and it should be a good one.”
While Cassidy’s team isn’t typically the one to initiate physicality and bad blood, he believes they thrive in that type of play.
“Any time a team kind of pulls us into it, we’re better,” he said. “We’re better in those types of games. Whether you’re good enough in the end, we’ll know in two weeks. At the end of the day, I think that’s good for our team.”
As of Saturday night, BetMGM had the Oilers with the second-best odds to win the Cup at +450. The Golden Knights weren’t far behind with the fifth-best odds at +750.
The teams split their regular season series 2-2, but the Oilers won the last two meetings, on Dec. 14 and April 1. Both sides boast as much star power, offensive skill and physical presence as anyone could ask for.
It’s the world’s best player seeking redemption and his continued pursuit of his first Cup, versus the franchise that has won faster and more efficiently than any in NHL history.
“They’re a heavyweight,” Cassidy said of the Oilers. “That’s what they are, so that’s what’s in front of us.”
The fact that the sides don’t like each other is just the cherry on top. It all sets up to be an extraordinary series. Now it just needs to deliver.
(Photo of William Karlsson and Connor McDavid: Ethan Miller / Getty Images)