Edmonton Oilers reveal lines ahead of playoff series against Golden Knights
The Edmonton Oilers are making their final preparations before their second-round series against the Vegas Golden Knights.
Game 1 of that series is set to get underway on Tuesday night in Vegas, and the Oilers decided to get one more day of practice in Edmonton on Sunday morning before heading down south.
This was the team’s first full practice since eliminating the LA Kings last week, and our first glance at how the team is stacking up the lines ahead of their tilt against Vegas. Knoblauch ran a full lineup, showing off the formation that fans might see when the puck drops on Game 1.
OilersTV’s Tony Brar had the full lineup from the Downtown Community Rink in Edmonton.
EDM lines & pairings:
Draisaitl – McDavid – Perry
Kane – RNH – Hyman
Frederic – Henrique – Brown
Podkolzin – Janmark – ArvidssonExtras: Skinner, Kapanen, Jones, Ryan
Nurse – Bouchard
Walman – Klingberg
Kulak – EmbersonExtras: Stecher, Dineen#Oilers
— Tony Brar 🚀 (@TonyBrarOTV) May 4, 2025
That is more or less the exact same lineup that the Oilers ran in the last few games of their series against the Kings. That top line remains loaded up with both Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl playing together. The ageless wonder Corey Perry has looked very good with those two, so he rounds out Edmonton’s first line.
The trio of Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Evander Kane, and Zach Hyman is also sticking together after an impressive round one showing. Moving down to the bottom-six, it would make sense for Knoblauch not to change anything, as depth scoring was a major reason why the Oilers were able to knock off LA the way they did.
Trent Frederic, in particular, has started to find his game, scoring his first as an Oiler in Game 6 against the Kings, helping the team punch their ticket into the final round.
It does not appear Jeff Skinner, Kasperi Kapanen, Max Jones, or Derek Ryan will be getting back into the playoff lineup any time soon, as they were the extra skaters at practice.
On the blueline, defensive coach Paul Coffey is opting to keep Darnell Nurse and Evan Bouchard together on the top pair despite mixed results. Jake Walman and John Klingberg have been a surprisingly good fit and will remain together on the second pair.
Lastly, Brett Kulak rounds out the third pair alongside Ty Emberson. Troy Stecher appears healthy enough to play, but has yet to appear in a playoff game so far this season.
Between the pipes, there was a bit of confusion as Stuart Skinner was in the starter’s net despite Calvin Pickard having won four straight for the Oilers. Knoblauch confirmed after practice that a decision on the Game 1 starting goalie has not been made, so it would be premature to make any assumptions.
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it seems to be the mentality for the Oilers. We’ll see if they can make it five straight playoff wins when Tuesday night rolls around in Sin City.