The Edmonton Oilers were shut out at home for the second time this season with their loss to the Devils on Monday, and now they’ll be looking to get back in the win column in a four-point swing game against the Vegas Golden Knights.

1. Under Bruce Cassidy, the Golden Knights established an impressive track record in October, going 24-5-2 in his three seasons as head coach. By piling up points early, they’ve consistently set themselves up for playoff contention well before the final push, rarely finding themselves in any real danger of missing the postseason over the past two years.

Historically, teams that find themselves in a playoff spot by November 1st have a good chance of staying there. Over the last 20 seasons, 67% of teams in that position have ultimately qualified for the playoffs. It’s a solid early indicator for teams like Vegas aiming to make it three straight.

2. The Golden Knights are the only team in the NHL with a perfect home record. At 8-0-0 at T-Mobile Arena, Vegas has been a disaster for visiting teams, as they’re giving up only 2.29 goals per game. On the road, however, this team is a different story. Vegas is winless through their first four road games, giving up a league-worst 4.50 goals per game.

The Golden Knights have surrendered 15 even-strength goals over their first four road games this season. That’s a significant jump—about one and a half goals per game more than they were giving up on the road last year and two and a half more than they’re allowing at home right now. Not exactly the defensive stability you’d expect from a team that’s perfect at home.

3. Let’s dig into the special teams numbers, shall we? In a surprise to no one who’s been paying attention, the Oilers are struggling mightily at both ends of the rink with their special teams. The power play ranks 26th at 14.7%, while the PK remains firmly locked at 32nd overall with a 60.0% success rate.

Meanwhile, the Golden Knights are chugging along with their special teams. Vegas’ power play is cruising at a blistering 32.3% pace — good for 4th in the NHL — while their PK is much more modest at 73.9%. Even so, Oilers fans would love to have those kinds of numbers, and there’s little doubt that the special teams are likely to play a factor tonight at Rogers Place.

4. Looking at their team stats page, the Golden Knights have six players — Mark Stone, Jack Eichel, Ivan Barbashev, Tomas Hertl, Alex Pietrangelo, and Pavel Dorofeyev — with 10 or more points, compared to only two players for the Oilers. Do you want to guess who they are? Anyway… Needless to say, the Oilers’ scoring struggles are real, and they’ll have their work cut out for them if they’re going to keep Vegas off the board.

5. The Oilers have won their last two home games against the Golden Knights and three of the previous four meetings overall, outscoring Vegas by an 18-12 margin over that span. Their most recent win over Vegas came on April 10th of last season, finishing in a 5-1 beatdown. The Oilers and Golden Knights square off four times this season, with the next meeting coming up on December 3rd at T-Mobile Arena.

6. The Golden Knights are coming to Rogers Place winners of five of their last six games. To make matters worse for the defensively challenged Oilers, Vegas has put up four or more goals on five of those six matchups. It goes without saying that our side will need to do a whole lot better defending than they did against the Devils because this Golden Knights team will punish them for sloppy mistakes.

7. Stuart Skinner and Adin Hill are expected to get the start tonight, and while the two goaltenders have very different win/loss records, their numbers between the pipes are more similar than you’d think. Stuart Skinner is currently sporting a 3-4-1 record with a 3.31 GAA and .881 SV%, while Adin Hill has a 5-2-0 record with a 3.16 GAA and .874 SV%. Needless to say, both Team Canada hopefuls haven’t exactly been lights out early in the season.

Goaltender Ilya Samsonov won’t accompany Vegas on two-game road trip after dealing with soreness of some kind since the weekend, and according to Bruce Cassidy, the injury won’t be a long-term issue but was serious enough to keep him at home.

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