The Edmonton Oilers and Vegas Golden Knights meet Friday in game 5 of the NHL West Second Round Playoffs at the T-Mobile Arena. Let’s preview this game and give out a pick and prediction.
The Edmonton Oilers are averaging 3.90 goals per game and are scoring on 44.1 percent of their power play opportunities. Leon Draisaitl leads Edmonton with 13 goals, Connor McDavid has 12 assists and Zach Hyman has 33 shots on goal. Defensively, the Edmonton Oilers are allowing 3.30 goals per game and are killing 75 percent of their opponent’s power plays. Stuart Skinner has given up 30 goals on 286 shots faced, and Jack Campbell has allowed 2 goals on 38 shots.
The Vegas Golden Knights are averaging 3.56 goals per game and are scoring on 16.1 percent of their power play opportunities. Chandler Stephenson leads Vegas with 6 goals, Mark Stone has 7 assists and Jack Eichel has 35 shots on goal. Defensively, the Vegas Golden Knights are allowing 3.11 goals per game and are killing 63.3 percent of their opponent’s power plays. Laurent Brossoit has given up 23 goals on 216 shots faced, and Adin Hill has allowed 4 goals on 61 shots.
The Oilers are 10-2 in their last 12 road games and 35-16 in their last 51 overall. The Golden Knights are 15-5 in their last 20 home games and 6-2 in their last 8 overall. The over is 26-11 in Oilers last 37 road games. The under is 4-1 in Golden Knights last 5 overall. The Oilers are 5-1 in the last 6 meetings in Vegas. The underdog is 9-4 in the last 13 meetings. The road team is 5-2 in the last 7 meetings.
This line is rather surprising. Yes, the Edmonton Oilers are an offensive powerhouse, and they've had their way in a lot of these playoff games. However, there's been no consistency in this series, and Vegas at home in the underdog role isn't something you see often. In fact, this will be just the 11th time since November 2021 Vegas has been an underdog on its home ice. The Golden Knights also haven't lost back to back games since March 28-30. I'll take the plus money with the home team.
