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Edmonton claiming Game 1 at T-Mobile Arena with a 4-2 doubling of the host Golden Knights was just the third time in six years the Oilers won a playoff series opener at home or away.

The Golden Knights, in the post-season for the seventh time in their eight-year history, have never dropped two in a row at home to start a series. Game 2 is Thursday at T-Mobile.

“It’s kind of new for us. We don’t usually find ourselves in this spot, but big one Thursday. Really, really big,” Oilers captain Connor McDavid said Wednesday. “I expect Vegas to raise their level. We need to match that if not be more desperate than them. 

“It’d be huge to come away here with two.”

McDavid as expected saw a lot of Jack Eichel and linemates Mark Stone and William Karlsson in the opener. The Oilers captain made the most of a first-period shift when Vegas wasn’t able to generate the matchup when McDavid set up Edmonton’s first goal scored by Corey Perry.

And Leon Draisaitl got in a lane between Eichel and McDavid as the latter gained the offensive zone in the first minute of the third period, which gave McDavid time to dish to Bouchard. Draisaitl headed to the net to backhand a one-hopper off Knights goalie Adin Hill and in for the equalizer.

“We’re comfortable playing against anyone,” McDavid said. “They’re a great line, when they load up that line. Eichel’s a great player, Stone’s a good player, Karlsson, go down the list, they’re a good team. They have great line and great depth. 

“Whoever you face, it’s always going to be a challenge. I thought last night our line as a whole did a good job of kind of driving some of the play and creating chances. Found a way to get two which is good.”

The Oilers went 2-0 in Anaheim’s Honda Center to start a second-round series in 2017. The Ducks, with Perry in their lineup, took that series 4-3.

Vegas will adjust in an attempt to generate more scoring while still containing McDavid and Draisaitl, but premier Knights defenceman Alex Pietrangelo (illness) and top goal scorer Pavel Dorofeyev (undisclosed) didn’t skate Wednesday after sitting out Game 1.

Meanwhile, it may have been gamesmanship, but Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch maintained Wednesday the possibility of splitting McDavid and Draisaitl onto separate lines.

“The most important thing is how is our team playing. If the other lines hadn’t been playing as well, I’d probably been more inclined to separate those two,” the coach said. “But the fact of our lines two through four have been playing really well and there’s been some chemistry, it allows me the opportunity to keep those guys together. 

“Going into Game 2, maybe the thought is maybe we are better off separating those two. Just with the fact that the way everyone’s playing gives me a lot more options of what we’re going to do.”

The way everyone is playing includes Connor Brown, who is a bottom-six forward playing like a top-six man with four goals and two assists in seven games. 

Brown went end-to-end and outside-inside on Knights defenceman Shea Theodore to score the insurance goal on a breakaway with less than two minutes remaining in Game 1.

“Having some fun out there,” Brown said. “This is kind of why you play, these big moments, these big games.”

After just four games in 2022-23 season with the Washington Capitals because of a knee injury, surgery and rehabilitation, Brown signed with the Oilers as a free agent. 

It took the 31-year-old from º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøtime to regain his form, but winger was a factor in Edmonton’s run to Game 7 of last year’s Stanley Cup final when the Oilers bowed out to the Florida Panthers.

McDavid said Brown played his best game as an Oiler in Game 6 of the first round that eliminated the Los Angeles Kings, and that his former OHL Erie Otters teammate has carried that over into the second round.

“Seems to really thrive in the post-season,” McDavid said. “Huge goal last night, beautiful goal. He’s got lots of confidence right now, as he should. 

“He’s been a big part of our group for the last couple of years. The job he does on the penalty kill, pitches in offensively every now and then. He’s a leader in our room. He’s been great.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 7, 2025.