Face-off: 1600 ET, 16/04/2022
Arena: Rogers Place
Edmonton and Vegas both enhanced their playoffs prospects with impressive victories on Thursday night and a fierce battle is anticipated at Rogers Place.
The Oilers deserve to be slight favourites due to a strong home record this term, but the Golden Knights are definitely firing right now.
It would be no surprise to see this contest go all the way to overtime and 4.33 for that to happen heads our Edmonton Oilers vs Vegas Golden Knights predictions.
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Edmonton Oilers Odds
Edmonton are on course to finish second in the Pacific Division following a 4-0 triumph at Nashville, which put them at 7-1-1 from their last nine outings.
Leon Draisaitl scored a hat-trick at Bridgestone Arena and Mike Smith made 30 saves for the 43rd shutout of his NHL career.
“I think it was as complete an effort as you can have against a really good hockey team in their building,” beamed Smith.
“It’s always tough to play in here. It’s always a good atmosphere and the guys responded really well.
“We had a good start to the game, got up in the first and then kind of just carried the momentum of that throughout the whole 60, so it was good to see.”
The Oilers had rattled off nine straight home wins prior to last Saturday’s shootout loss to Colorado, so having five of their remaining seven games here is a boost.
They do face some tough opponents, though, and close encounters are always to be expected around this time of year.
Looking at the NHL odds, we like 5.75 for this match to be tied at 1-1 after the opening period.
Vegas Golden Knights Odds
Vegas made it nine wins out of 13 when romping to a 6-1 triumph at Calgary, which kept them in the hunt for third place in the table or a wild card berth.
Jonathan Marchessault and William Karlsson each had a goal and two assists as the Golden Knights turned on the style after falling behind.
“We’re a veteran group,” said Marchessault. “We know the importance of points at this time of the year.
“We’ve worked hard the past month and a half to come back into a situation where we can control our destiny – and that’s what we’re going to do for the rest of the year.”
There was a feeling that Vegas took advantage of the Flames being able to pick and choose their battles, due to a comfortable lead at the summit.
Even so, that was a statement of intent from a team which has the roster to make a real run at Stanley Cup glory.
They have six winnable games after this, so all would not be lost if they only pick up a point, though.
On that basis, we just favour the hosts as a percentage pick and are adding 12.5 for Edmonton to win 4-3 to our NHL predictions.
Additional stats
Last result:
Nashville 0-4 EDMONTON
Calgary 1-6 VEGAS
Season head-to-head: Edmonton 0-4 Vegas, Vegas 2-3 Edmonton, Vegas 3-5 Edmonton
