On Friday night, both teams faced two of the elite clubs in the NHL this season. Edmonton’s inconsistency reared its head at home, as the Oilers were within a goal down the stretch, before the Carolina Hurricanes doubled them up 6-3. That’s six losses in the Oilers’ last eight games.

Vegas dug itself a three-goal deficit against the Minnesota Wild and fell 4-2, making it four losses in its last five games. The grip on the Pacific Division lead slipped as the Anaheim Ducks, darlings of the trade deadline after their stunning addition of John Carlson, are now in the top spot.

Each team, in their lone win this week, had to overcome a major deficit to come back and win in overtime.

Digging holes, and only sometimes being able to dig out of them.

So the Oilers and Golden Knights are third and second, respectively, in the division, the Oilers four points back. However, with the same number of games played, 63, Edmonton has won 30 compared to VGK’s 29. It’s the 14 loser points for Vegas keeping them afloat. Overall, they’ve lost five more games than they’ve won.

First look

Connor Murphy, Jason Dickinson, and Colton Dach each made their debuts in blue and orange after being acquired this week.

Dickinson had the most impact, with his third line with Vasily Podkolzin and Kasperi Kapanen seeming to click in the latter two periods. Podkolzin scored his 14th goal of the season, now with a career-high 28 points. He’s also averaging a career high 15:11 per game. All 14 of those goals have been scored at even strength, and only one of the 28 points was on the power play.

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3:12 AM · Mar 7, 2026

Vegas completes fourth line

In relative terms, the Golden Knights were quiet on Trade Deadline, having made their major acquisition back in January with Rasmus Andersson.

However, Bruce Cassidy now has a new fourth line, with the new faces in Cole Smith and Nic Dowd to play along Colton Scissons.

The 35-year-old Dowd has scored four goals and 16 points in 55 games, all but one played with Washington. He had one shot on goal in 13:17 of ice time in his debut vs. the Wild.

The formerly undrafted pro in Smith has six goals and 10 points in 44 games, climbing up the ranks to play just over 14 minutes a night in the Predators lineup. So far, two shots in two games in Vegas.

Tonight will be Andersson’s 15th in a Knights uniform, whose defensive depth has allowed him to play three fewer minutes a game per night. Cassidy has been tempted to play Shea Theodore, Noah Hanifin, and Andersson on separate pairs. Andersson was cooking with 10 goals as a Flame in 48 contests, just one since moving south of the border.

Curiously, he’s minus-4 in VGK, while he was plus-3 in Calgary.

As per late February/early March tradition, Mark Stone was placed on long-term injured reserve. With the new salary cap rules, VGK didn’t get the benefit of adding a new superweapon to help pursue a Stanley Cup because of it. Stone’s footspeed is starting to crater, but he’s still hugely effective. He’s collected an impressive 60 points in 43 games.

Deep dive

Both the Oilers and Golden Knights are bottom-half of the league in 5-on-5 goal share, getting outscored a bit more often than not, 18th and 20th. Both teams rise to fifth and seventh in expected goal share.

They aren’t finishing their chances, or is porous defending undoing their offence? Goaltending?

It’s a bit of both.

Adin Hill is back after a long injury layoff, but his numbers won’t wow you. He’s got a 3.42 goals-against average, .860 save percentage.

According to Moneypuck, Hill has the fifth worst Goals Saved Above Expected at -15.3 all season. When graded in the last 10 games, it’s the worst. Carter Hart, who hasn’t played since Jan. 8, is 10th worst in the league by the same metric.

Meanwhile, the Oilers haven’t done many favours for Tristan Jarry, and Jarry hasn’t done a ton of favours for the Oilers. The marriage began sweetly, but since a lower-body injury, he doesn’t seem as comfortable.

Jarry is -6.1 Goals Saved Above Expected in the last 10 games. Ingram is -2.8.

Notes:

Jack Eichel after Friday’s loss: “We’ve got to build on the things we’re doing well…The things that are costing us games, just try and clean up a little bit. There was a lot to like about our game tonight. But at the same time, we live in a results-based league and weren’t able to find a way to win. That’s the difference.”
Eichel is following up last year’s career-high season of 94 points with 70 points in 2025-26.
Knoblauch after the loss: “We need to find our game and put together wins. We’ve got 20 games left, and we’re on the brink of not making the playoffs. We can’t wait to find our game in the playoffs, because ultimately, we need to get there. We need to find another gear.”
Pavel Dorofeyev has become a tremendous pro. The former third-round pick in 2019 exploded for 35 goals a year ago, and just hit the 30-goal plateau to lead the VGK. With 51 points, he’s one back of last year’s total. He’s one of 17 NHL players with 30-plus goals this year.
Dorofeyev has only been held pointless once in his last nine games, with six goals and five assists in that stretch.
Matt Savoie had his four-game point streak snapped Friday, going minus-2 in 16:12 of ice time.
Evan Bouchard has points in 11 of his last 12 games, with seven goals and 24 points since Jan. 22. He is just on the outside of top-10 overall in league scoring.
The Oilers defeated the Golden Knights 4-3 back on Dec. 21, after getting up early in that game by four. They’ll play three games head-to-head in the next month.
Edmonton hasn’t visited Vegas since May 14, when the Oilers won Game 5 in overtime 1-0 thanks to Kasperi Kapanen, and advanced to the Western Conference Final.
Oilers record vs. Pacific: 9-5-3
Oilers Road record vs. Pacific: 3-5-1

Michael Menzies is an Oilersnation columnist and has been the play-by-play voice of the Bonnyville Pontiacs in the AJHL since 2019. With seven years news experience as the Editor-at-Large of Lakeland Connect in Bonnyville, he also collects vinyl, books, and stomach issues.