The Pacific Division-leading Vegas Golden Knights will try to hit the 100-point plateau for the third time in team history on Tuesday night when they host the Edmonton Oilers.
Vegas (45-20-8, 98 points) enters the contest on a six-game winning streak, which is tied for its longest win streak of the season. The Golden Knights also eclipsed the 100-point mark in their inaugural season, 2017-18 (109), and 2022-23 (111).
Vegas has a seven-point lead in the Pacific over the second-place Los Angeles Kings (41-23-9, 91 points) and is nine points in front of the third-place Oilers (42-26-5, 89 points) with nine games remaining for each team.
With a dazzling 27-7-3 record at T-Mobile Arena this season, the Golden Knights return home after sweeping a three-game road trip to Minnesota, Chicago and Nashville, where they outscored their opponents 13-5 in the process.
“Give up five goals in three games, that’s always going to help you win,” Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy said.
With a 7-1-2 mark over its last 10 games, Vegas appears to be peaking at the right time with the Stanley Cup playoffs just a few weeks away.
“You never want to get ahead of yourself, but I said last week I thought that we were trending really well,” Cassidy said following a 3-1 victory at Nashville on Saturday. “So we’re certainly closer to the top of the scale than the bottom, especially our overall game.
“We’re not only winning because we’re scoring. It’s not one thing. It’s not one line. It’s not one special team. It’s a little bit of everything.”
The Golden Knights’ next two home games against Edmonton and the NHL-leading Winnipeg Jets on Thursday may provide an even better indication of their ranking among the league’s elite.
Edmonton is beginning a key four-game road swing that includes a stop at Los Angeles on Saturday in the battle for home ice in the first round of the playoffs. The Oilers come in off a dramatic 3-2 overtime victory over Calgary in the Battle of Alberta as Leon Draisaitl returned from an undisclosed injury to score his league-leading 50th goal to tie the game at 2-2 with 3:12 remaining. Draisaitl then won the game with a nasty wrist shot from the high slot 2:25 into overtime.
It was Draisaitl’s sixth overtime goal, an NHL single-season record.
“They’re all special in their own way but, obviously, in that moment to find one, especially the way the game has gone, is nice,” Draisaitl said.
“He was amazing tonight, coming back off an injury, scoring two crucial goals for us,” defenseman Darnell Nurse said. “In my opinion, he’s the MVP, seeing what he’s done this year. If you don’t have a lot of the effort and performances that he’s had, we’re probably not sitting in the position that we are.”
The Oilers will still be without five-time Art Ross Trophy winner Connor McDavid (lower-body injury) for Tuesday’s contest, but Edmonton coach Kris Knoblauch said the superstar is nearing a return to the lineup.
“Might join us later in the trip but not now,” Knoblauch said. “We know a ballpark (timeline) of when it’s going to be, and it’s not going to be the next game or two. We feel it should be before the regular season ends.”
