Golden Knights have to be ‘on our toes’ to extend season in Game 5 against Oilers

EDMONTON -- The Vegas Golden Knights admit they need a better effort to extend their season in the Western Conference Second Round against the Edmonton Oilers.

They must win Game 5 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Wednesday (9:30 p.m. ET; ESPN, SN, TVAS, CBC) to stay alive in the best-of-7 series after a 3-0 loss at Rogers Place on Monday.

“We have to start better,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “This is a couple of games in a row now where we’re chasing it. We knew they’d come out better. We’re a veteran group, and it’s on the coach to prepare the players, so I take my share of the responsibility, but it’s also a veteran group; they have to know that this team is going to be hungry, they’re at home, they came off a loss.

“We have to make sure we’re on our toes and I don’t think there were enough players on our toes ready to go, so that will be Step 1 in Game 5 -- make sure we push the envelope early and get to our game quicker.”

The Golden Knights won three straight in the first round against the Minnesota Wild after falling behind 2-1 in the best-of-7 series. The first two of those victories came in overtime.

“We did it last series, so we have a lot of faith in this group,” Vegas forward Reilly Smith said. “We’ll just take it one at a time.”

The Golden Knights were looking to pull themselves out of a 2-0 hole here after losing the first two games of the series at home. They got halfway there with a 4-3 win in Game 3 on Saturday.

But they fell behind 2-0 in the first period Monday after Oilers forward Adam Henrique scored twice, including just 1:27 into the game.

Edmonton forward Evander Kane made it 3-0 at 7:38 of the second period, and Stuart Skinner made 23 saves for his first win this postseason (1-3).

“They blocked a lot of shots (20), and I don’t think we got to the inside enough,” Vegas forward Jack Eichel said. “Obviously, the power play wasn’t a factor (0-for-3); we need to be better on that.

“I think we know we need to be better, so you look toward Game 5 and what we can do to change things and win a hockey game.”

Each of the Golden Knights’ three power plays Monday came in the first period. They were 0-for-2 with the man-advantage on Saturday after going 3-for-7 in the two games at home.

“We moved it around well and we have possession, we’re just not taking the shot that’s available,” Cassidy said. “I think in our building we ran some weak-side plays and got some goals from it. They’re making that play a little more difficult, but the elbow (face-off circle) shots are there. Jack rung one off the crossbar, and those are the ones we have to take to break them down.

“I think [Pavel Dorofeyev] took a couple, but we missed some opportunities from there. If you can get that shot, get them scrambling, maybe off their feet, then other plays open up.”

Vegas also experienced difficulty generating offense off the rush and creating turnovers in the neutral zone like it did in Game 3. It will look to make things harder on Edmonton’s defensemen in Game 5 with a need to spend more time in the offensive zone.

Game 6, if necessary, would be at Rogers Place on Friday.

“We need to be more aggressive offensively and try and force them to make mistakes on their breakout and get pucks back, make plays when we have opportunities and get pucks to the net,” Eichel said. “So, it’s got to be better, and we’ll look toward Game 5.

“You just go home and you’re at home, Game 5, win a game and go from there. That’s really all that matters at this point.”