5 THINGS: Edmonton Oilers strike gold in series opener against Vegas
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Here are five factors the Oilers have on their side early on in Round 2:
AT THEIR OWN GAME
The Oilers won by following the Golden Knights' own style; rolling four lines and matching depth against an opponent with perhaps the deepest roster in the league, no less. And they did it despite having a top-heavy roster of their own where not a lot of goal scoring tends to trickle downward.
Sure, the Oilers top line still came up flush, with both Corey Perry and Leon Draisaitl finding the back of the net, which is to be expected with an ace-in-the-hole like Connor McDavid setting up their goals. But the second and third lines also scored, while not a single player on the Oilers ended up with a negative plus-minus rating.
It was about as good of an all-around effort for a team formerly known not so long ago as little more than Two Guys and a Power Play.
And just like that, the Oilers singlehandedly erased the home-ice advantage the Golden Knights fought so hard over the regular season to achieve by winning the Pacific Division.
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