What Edmonton Oilers players said ahead of potential elimination game in Vegas
The Edmonton Oilers are in a good spot in their playoff series against the Vegas Golden Knights, but the job isn’t done.
After building up an impressive 3-1 series lead, the Oilers now have a chance to eliminate the Golden Knights on the road in Game 5 of the series. This is coming off a dominant 3-0 shutout victory in Edmonton in Game 4.
Leon Draisaitl met with the media following the pregame skate on Wednesday morning, where he talked about replicating that effort.
“Just trying to replicate that,” Draisaitl said. “More of the same, same attention to detail, same urgency we had in Game 4 and, yeah, looking to move on.”
“We gotta play one good game, that’s where our heads are at. Let’s play one good game here tonight and give ourselves a good chance to move on.”
"We gotta play one good game, that's where our heads are at. Let's play one good game here tonight & give ourselves a good chance to move on."
Leon Draisaitl on the #Oilers mentality heading into Game 5 with the chance to eliminate Vegas.@Enterprise | #LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/xj7ZuONa1Y
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) May 14, 2025
Draisaitl has been put in a bit of a different position than usual late in this series. While he is the NHL’s current Rocket Richard Trophy winner, the 52-goal scorer has been tasked with a defensive assignment on Vegas’ Jack Eichel.
Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch praised Draisaitl’s defensive play at morning skate, but the German superstar also commented on why he is so open to taking on challenges like that.
“I’d like to think I can play any role you can give me. A challenge like that excites me,” Draisaitl said. “Whatever it is I’m needed to do this time of year, I’ll gladly do it.
“I want to win, and I know sometimes that’s what it takes to win. I can put my own stats on the back burner for a couple of months if that means we can be the last team standing.”
Kasperi Kapanen will stay in the lineup once again after making his Oilers playoff debut on Monday night. He didn’t get on the scoresheet, but he provided plenty of speed and physicality to the roster in Game 4.
He spoke about getting back into the lineup and playing on a line with Draisaitl and Vasily Podkolzin.
“He’s probably, if not the best player, the second-best player in the world right now,” Kapanen said of Draisaitl. “We got a good combination of everything. Leon is one of the better players offensively, and defensively too… Me and [Podkolzin] are just trying to use our speed and physicality to get the puck back to him.
“I think it’s a good culmination of a lot of things. Certainly felt good last game.”
"The atmosphere before the game was something that I've never experienced before, it was beautiful. That certainly helped my adrenaline & my energy levels, it was fun to be back."
Kasperi Kapanen on returning to the #Oilers lineup.@Enterprise | #LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/HjgVAkn0HL
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) May 14, 2025
If that trio can find a way to keep Eichel off the scoresheet once again, it’ll give Edmonton a great chance of advancing to the Western Conference Final.