Oilers vs. Golden Knights: Game 5 Information, Line Combinations, Starting Goaltenders, and More

The Edmonton Oilers have an opportunity to close out their second-round series with the Golden Knights on Wednesday night as they head into Game 5 in Vegas with a 3-1 lead.

A win by the Oilers would send them to the Western Conference Final for the third time in four years and would serve as revenge for two years ago when Vegas took down Edmonton in six games en route to their first-ever Stanley Cup. A win by the Golden Knights would send this series back to Edmonton for another must-win game on Friday.

Let’s get set for Game 5.

Oilers vs. Golden Knights Game 5 Information

• Date: Wednesday, May 14, 2025
• Start Time: 7:30 PM MT
• Location: Vegas, Nevada
• Venue: T-Mobile Arena
• Watch: CBC/SN (Canada), ESPN (USA), Fubo (Stream)

Projected Line Combinations

• Oilers: All of the lineup changes that Kris Knoblauch and Co. made ahead of Game 4 worked for Edmonton, with the team cruising to a 3-0 victory. The third line of Evander Kane, Adam Henrique, and Connor Brown clicked for two goals in the first period, and Kane scored in the second period when on the ice with Connor McDavid. The captain mostly played with Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Zach Hyman on his wings, while Leon Draisaitl centred his own line with Vasily Podkolzin and Kasperi Kapanen. Troy Stecher played his first game of the playoffs for the Oilers on Monday and didn’t miss a beat while logging 16:46 playing alongside Darnell Nurse.

Projected Starting Goaltenders

• Oilers: Stuart Skinner was rock-solid for the Oilers on Monday, turning aside all 23 shots that the Golden Knights threw his way for Edmonton’s first shutout win of the playoffs. Calvin Pickard is still listed as day-to-day with an undisclosed injury, and the Oilers won’t be rushing him back if Skinner can settle into a groove and continue to play like he did in Game 4.
• Golden Knights: Adin Hill has been the starting goalie for Vegas in each of their ten playoff games this year, and there’s no indication they’ll go in a different direction for this potential elimination scenario in Game 5. Hill has a .872 save percentage through four games against the Oilers in this series. That’s a significant decline from the .934 save percentage he posted in four games against Edmonton in the 2023 playoffs.

Thoughts and Notes Going into Game 5

• Edmonton’s win in Game 4 was the team’s most dominant of the playoffs thus far. They scored less than two minutes into the first period and were up by two goals heading into the second. The Oilers completely shut things down from there. They didn’t take a single penalty in the second or third periods and they held the Golden Knights to just five high-danger scoring chances during those forty minutes. Evander Kane added an insurance goal in the middle of the second frame and the Oilers cruised to a 3-0 victory. At no point did it feel like Vegas was going to win Game 4.
• The Golden Knights don’t have an answer for the Oilers when they have all four of their lines rolling like they did in Game 4. After winning Games 1 and 2 with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl loaded on the top line, Edmonton had their playoff winning streak snapped in Game 3, so they responded with a different look for Game 4. McDavid and Draisaitl’s lines both dominated Vegas in terms of shots and chances, but it was the third line of Adam Henrique, Evander Kane, and Connor Brown that came through for the Oilers with two goals in the first period. Teams having to focus effort on stopping McDavid and Draisaitl on separate lines, it leaves the bottom-six with opportunities to feast on weaker opponents.
• Teams that have a 3-1 lead in a best-of-seven playoff series have gone on to win that series 91 percent of the time in NHL history. The Oilers have been on the winning side of a three-game playoff comeback twice in their history. They came back from 3-1 down in a huge upset over the Colorado Avalanche in 1998 and they had to do the same in 1990 against the Winnipeg Jets on the way to their fifth Stanley Cup. The year before, the Oilers blew a 3-1 series lead to Wayne Gretzky and the Los Angeles Kings. That’s the only instance in team history where they’ve failed to finish off a playoff series with a 3-1 lead.
• While the odds favour Edmonton winning this series, they need to keep their foot on the gas and get it finished so that Vegas doesn’t have a chance to stretch it out any longer. Momentum can swing quickly in the playoffs and the Oilers don’t want to have to come back to Edmonton to host the Golden Knights with momentum on their side. Winning in five games would give the Oilers plenty of time to rest before the Western Conference Final, something they didn’t have much time to do in the later stages of their playoff run last spring.