Oilers sticking with same lines for Game 2 against Golden Knights
Published
Edmonton Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch did not make any changes to the lineup at the morning skate, and the same lines are now set to take the ice for Game 2 against the Vegas Golden Knights on Thursday night.
The Oilers were victorious in Game 1 of the second-round series, staging a rally from down 2-0 for their fifth consecutive come-from-behind victory in the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs.
After Leon Draisaitl scored early in the third period to tie the game at 2-2, Zach Hyman potted the go-ahead goal at the 16:58 mark before Connor Brown added an insurance marker with under two minutes remaining.
“That's part of having a mature, older group,” Knoblauch said after the win. “Players have seen a lot, a lot of good things and a lot of bad things. In the playoffs, things fluctuate. There's a lot of things that can stress out the team. No matter what happens, I think we handled it really well tonight.”
The second-year head coach is sticking with his "mature" lineup as the team looks to take a 2-0 series lead, flipping the script from when the Oilers dropped the first two games of the playoffs to the Los Angeles Kings in the first round. Edmonton would win four consecutive games after that, eliminating their Pacific Division rivals from the playoffs for the fourth straight year.
Calvin Pickard will make a sixth straight start in net on Thursday, he has yet to lose since replacing Stuart Skinner in the the first round. Pickard turned aside 15 of the 17 shots he faced in Game 1 against the Golden Knights.
Below are the lines Knoblaugh rolled out in Game 1 :
Draisaitl – McDavid - Perry
Kane - Nugent-Hopkins – Hyman
Brown – Henrique – Frederic
Podkolzin – Janmark – Arvidsson
Nurse – Bouchard
Walman – Klingberg
Kulak – Emberson
Pickard
Skinner
PP1: McDavid, Bouchard, Hyman, Nugent-Hopkins, Draisaitl
PP2 : Klingberg, Walman, Perry, Henrique, Kane
Edmonton and Vegas have previously squared off in the second round of the 2023 playoffs in a series that saw the Oilers fall in six games.
The Golden Knights would go on to win the Stanley Cup, their first in franchise history, with a five-game series victory over the Florida Panthers in the final.