Can the Oilers Win Another Series Without Mattias Ekholm?

Ekholm has missed Edmonton’s last nine games, including the regular season and playoffs, with an undisclosed injury. He’s played only 1:52 of game action since March 26.

After initially being sidelined for two weeks, Ekholm returned to Edmonton’s lineup against the San Jose Sharks on April 11, but skated only a couple of shifts before leaving the game, after appearing to aggravate an injury. Specific details of his injury are not known.

Oilers Miss Ekholm’s Presence

Edmonton dearly misses the veteran Swede, who is not just the Oilers’ best all-around blueliner, but most critically their strongest defender. During Edmonton’s postseason run to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final last year, Ekholm led the Oilers in both the total number of shifts and short-handed minutes played over the course of 25 playoff contests. This season, he averaged over 22 minutes of ice time, including more than two minutes per game on the penalty kill.

While Edmonton rode a red-hot offence to victory over the Kings, lighting the lamp a total of 27 times, Ekholm’s absence was glaring against Los Angeles. The Oilers gave up 24 goals over the six games, the most they’ve allowed in a single playoff series since 1989. Edmonton’s penalty kill went just 12-for-20, giving up eight power-play goals, twice as many as it allowed in the entire 2024 postseason.

That said, Edmonton improved defensively as the series wore on, allowing a total of eight goals while going 7-for-8 on the penalty kill over the final three games.

Oilers’ Blueliners Step Up

After Edmonton dropped the opening two games against Los Angeles at Crypto.com Arena by scores of 6-5 and 6-2, the Oilers’ blueliners have collectively stepped up their play. Not coincidentally, Edmonton has won four in a row.

Since Game 2 of the first round, when John Klingberg returned from a lengthy absence due to injury, Knoblauch has used the defensive pairings of Darnell Nurse with Evan Bouchard, Jake Walman with Klingberg, and Brett Kulak with Ty Emberson.

There probably weren’t many Edmonton fans who expected Klingberg to make an impact, given his underwhelming play during 11 regular-season games with the Oilers. But the 32-year-old rearguard, who has nearly 70 games of NHL postseason experience, provided a stabilizing presence on the blueline, averaging 19:33 of ice time against Los Angeles.

Oilers veteran stalwarts Bouchard, Kulak and Nurse are all logging in the neighborhood of 25 minutes per game in the playoffs. Walman is averaging around 20 minutes of ice time and ranks second in the NHL this postseason with a plus/minus rating of plus-8. Emberson, who has the least Stanley Cup Playoff experience of any Oilers blueliner, has played less than 10 minutes each of the last four games but continues to be used frequently in short-handed situations.

Golden Knights Present Greater Challenge

Edmonton is stepping up a weight class against the Golden Knights, who finished atop the Pacific Division standings in 2024-25 with 110 points, the third most in the NHL. Vegas is coming off a first-round victory over the Minnesota Wild in six games.

The Golden Knights pose much more of an offensive threat than Los Angeles (Vegas scored 274 goals compared to 249 by the Kings in the regular season), thanks in no small part to their ruthlessly efficient play with the man advantage. Vegas ranked second in the league during the regular season with a power-play success rate of 28.2%, and converted at 27.8% with the man advantage in its first-round series against the Wild.

If Edmonton doesn’t shore up its penalty killing, Vegas is going to feast on the Oilers. Edmonton also needs to stay out of the box, something the Oilers did a pretty good job at in their wins against Los Angeles. The Kings had 10 power-play opportunities in Games 1 and 2 combined, but only 10 total over the last four games of the series.

The Oilers were 2-2 against Vegas in the regular season, including a 3-2 road win on April 1 without Ekholm in their lineup. The Round 2 series between Edmonton and the Golden Knights begins Tuesday (May 6) at T-Mobile Arena.