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Oilers Game Notes: Home-ice advantage up for grabs as Edmonton visits Vegas
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Photo credit: © Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images
Cam Lewis
Mar 26, 2026, 11:00 EDTUpdated: Mar 26, 2026, 11:09 EDT
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There’s plenty left to be decided in the Pacific Division with three weeks to play.
The Ducks lead the way with a 40-27-4 record, five points up on Edmonton and six points ahead of Vegas, with one game in hand on both teams. If neither team can catch Anaheim, the stretch drive will be about the Oilers and Golden Knights battling for home-ice advantage in what is shaping up to be a first-round playoff series.
If this is a playoff preview, Thursday’s game could go a long way in deciding where that series starts.

Edmonton Oilers at Vegas Golden Knights

  • Date: Tuesday, March 26, 2026
  • Start Time: 7:30 PM MT
  • Location: Vegas, Nevada
  • Venue: T-Mobile Arena
  • Watch: Sportsnet
1. Since the NHL moved to the four-division format following the lockout-shortened 2012-13 season, there have been several different teams cycling through the Pacific crown.
The Ducks finished first in the Pacific Division four consecutive years from 2013-14 to 2016-17. The Golden Knights captured their first division banner in their inaugural year in 2017-18, the Flames finished atop the Pacific and Western Conference in 2018-19 before bowing out in the first round of the playoffs, and the Golden Knights were back on top when the 2019-20 season was cut short due to COVID.
After going with an All-Canadian Division for the pandemic-shortened 2021 campaign, the regular divisions returned in 2021-22, with Calgary leading the way before a second-round playoff exit in the Battle of Alberta. The Golden Knights won the Pacific again in 2022-23 en route to their first Stanley Cup, taking down the Oilers in the second round.
The Canucks surprised by winning the Pacific Division in 2023-24, but, like Calgary, they wound up losing in the playoffs to Edmonton. That was the case as well last season for Vegas, as the Golden Knights won the division for the fourth time in eight years before falling in the second round to the Oilers.
2. The Oilers won the Smythe Division six consecutive times from 1981-82 to 1986-87 and have not raised a division banner since, never finishing higher than second through parts of three decades in the Northwest and Pacific Divisions.
With ten games remaining on the 2025-26 schedule, it will be an uphill climb for Edmonton to jump over Anaheim, especially considering the game in hand. But the Oilers will host the Ducks on Saturday afternoon, representing a potential four-point swing if the home side can win in regulation.
The Ducks will be in Calgary on Thursday while Edmonton faces the Golden Knights, so this is a pivotal night in the race. This is about as close to a must-win as you will get in March without the standings making it official.
3. With two games remaining against Vegas in their final ten, the Oilers can distance themselves in the battle for home-ice advantage in the first round by beating the Golden Knights twice in regulation.
After Thursday’s game, Edmonton will head home for a four-game homestand, beginning with the Ducks and concluding with the Golden Knights. A pair of teams outside of the playoffs, Seattle and Chicago, are in the middle of those four-point games.
4. The Oilers have won both of their meetings with the Golden Knights in regulation this season. The first was a 4-3 win in Edmonton in December, and the second was a 4-2 win in Vegas earlier this month.
Last season, Vegas won the first two games of the season series with Edmonton. The Oilers then won the latter two regular-season games against the Golden Knights before beating them in five games in the second round of the playoffs.
Over the last two years, including playoffs, the Oilers are 8-3 against the Golden Knights.
5. Vegas is returning home on Thursday following a three-game road trip that saw them go 1-2, beating the Stars but falling to the Predators and Jets. The Golden Knights have just one win in their last five games and have scored only five goals during that stretch.
Through 72 games, the Golden Knights rank 16th in the NHL with 224 goals. That’s a surprisingly low total for a team that finished fifth in the league with 274 goals last season and added Mitch Marner in the summer, the top free-agent forward available.
Jack Eichel leads the team with 74 points in 64 games, Marner is second with 70 points in 71 games, and Mark Stone has chipped in 62 points despite being limited to 50 games. Pavel Dorofeyev, Tomas Hertl, and Ivan Barbashev are all between 50 and 60 points, then the next-highest scoring forward on the Golden Knights is Braeden Bowman with 26.
If the top-six forwards are cold, the Golden Knights likely aren’t scoring many goals. For a team built around high-end offensive talent, that lack of production is something the Oilers should be looking to exploit.

What they said…

Edmonton head coach Kris Knoblauch on the potential playoff preview in Vegas…
“There’s a lot on the line here. Not only for making playoffs, but seeding and maybe a home ice advantage situation.
“Hitting the playoffs, this is a team that I wouldn’t say is playing poorly, but they’re just finding it difficult to win games right now for whatever reason that is. But they’re a good team, and every time we play them, we’ve always had a good game.”
Oilers defenceman Jake Walman on the team holding Utah to just 18 shots in Tuesday’s win…
“We’ve been building towards it. It’s just more of a commitment to team defence and getting the puck out of our own zone, stopping the puck, not letting them kind of cycle and get momentum.
“When you’re doing well, they have to make two or three really good plays to get a look, so I think that’s the goal. If we can play like that more, that will make us successful.”
Vegas head coach Bruce Cassidy on the Golden Knights struggling to produce offence… 
“[Tuesday’s loss to Winnipeg] wasn’t about [our] goaltender, it was about our lack of execution offensively. Listen, if we’re not scoring, he’s going to have to help us put out fires for us. I’m not putting it on him, but that’s the hand he’s been dealt lately. He hasn’t got a lot of run support.”
“Their top guys are all over the score sheet. You can get away with it for a while, but it’s a number of games now, so that is going to change for us. It’s going to need to change for us.”
Golden Knights defenceman Rasmus Andersson on falling behind in games too often… 
“They get one, they get two, they get three. I think that’s that’s been kind of our issue. We don’t stop the bleeding soon enough. It feels like almost every time we let the first one in, it’s a 3-0 game and we have to chase the rest of the game.
“It’s frustrating because I think we were the better team in the first period. We just have to stop the bleeding earlier.”

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