NHL Playoffs Game Odds: Vegas at Edmonton, Game 3 for Semifinals

The Western Conference semifinal series between the Golden Knights and Oilers is tied 1-1 as it shifts to Edmonton for Game 3 on Monday night. Edmonton is favored to take a 2-1 lead on the NHL odds.

Golden Knights vs. Oilers, Game 3 | 2023 NHL Expert Analysis

How to Bet Vegas at Edmonton NHL Hockey Odds & TV Info

When: Monday, 8:30 PM ET
Where: Rogers Place
TV: ESPN
Stream: ESPN+
Radio: Tunein.com
Opening NHL Lines: Oilers -170, Golden Knights +15 (total 7)

Why Bet on Vegas?

The Knights took Game 1 by a score of 6-4 but lost Game 2 on Saturday, 5-1, as their five-game winning streak was snapped. They had an opportunity to take the third 2-0 lead in franchise history but didn’t come close. Edmonton had a 4-0 lead after the first period, while the Knights had only four shots on goal. The Oilers went 3-for-6 on the power play. The Knights were 0-for-3 and gave up a short-handed goal.

“They were a lot better than us,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said after the game. “They were ready to play and we weren’t, for whatever reason. It falls on the coach to prepare your team to play, so I didn’t do a good enough job there. They were just much better than us.”

Ivan Barbashev scored the goal in Game 2 and added four hits. Barbashev has scored three of the Golden Knights’ six goals through two games in the second round. The 27-year-old is up to six points, 14 shots on net, 23 hits and a plus-3 rating through seven playoff appearances. Mark Stone had an assist and three hits in the loss. The helper gave Stone four goals and seven assists through seven playoff contests, and he’s on an active six-game point streak.

Laurent Brossoit stopped 27 of 32 shots in two periods on Saturday. The Oilers rang up four goals on Brossoit in the first period, cashing in twice on the power play, once shorthanded and once at even strength. Adin Hill handled the third period and stopped all four shots he faced. So far in the postseason, Brossoit has been solid, though this is the fourth time in seven starts he’s allowed four or more goals.

It is presumed that Brossoit will start again here. He was looking to become the first goaltender in Stanley Cup playoffs history with a six-game winning streak after appearing in 15 or fewer contests during the regular season. His five-game run was tied with Semyon Varlamov (5-0 in 2009) for the lengthiest among NHL netminders who meet those criteria.

Bet Golden Knights to Win Today
MyBookie Betting Lines for the Game

Why Bet on Edmonton?

The Oilers scored four times in the first period of Game 2 on the way to the 5-1 win. Leon Draisaitl scored his 12th and 13th goals of the playoffs to match last year’s postseason goal-scoring leader in only eight games. The German scored once on the power play and again at even strength as part of first-period onslaught that included tallies from Evan Bouchard and Connor McDavid.

Draisaitl is the first player in Stanley Cup Playoffs history to score six goals through the first two contests of a series. Draisaitl, whose 13 goals in the postseason trail only Newsy Lalonde (15 w/ MTL in 1919) for the most by a skater through their first eight games of a playoff year, reached the mark with his seventh career multi-goal period. Only seven players in NHL history have had as many multi-goal periods in the Stanley Cup Playoffs: Wayne Gretzky (14), Maurice Richard (13), Jari Kurri (12), Phil Esposito (9), Tim Kerr (9), Mike Bossy (7) and Bobby Hull (7).

McDavid started this postseason with one point through his first two games and has since recorded six consecutive multi-point outings – his second career streak of at least that length in the playoffs (also 7 GP in 2022). He became the first player in Stanley Cup Playoffs history to achieve the feat multiple times.

Bouchard notched his third consecutive multi-point outing and his fifth overall of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs, joining Paul Coffey (9 in 1985 & 6 in 1984), Chris Pronger (7 in 2006) and Charlie Huddy (7 in 1985) as the fourth Oilers defenseman with as many in a single postseason.

The Oilers, who set an NHL record by scoring on 32.4 percent of their opportunities in the regular season, have scored at least one power-play goal in each of their eight postseason games with Draisaitl accounting for six of them. He now sits one shy of the most by an active player in a single postseason (7: Eric Staal in 2006, Patrice Bergeron in 2019, Evgeni Malkin in 2009 & Brayden Point in 2021) and three shy of the NHL record for most in a playoff year – a benchmark shared by Hockey Hall of Fame members Cam Neely (9 in 1991 w/ BOS) and Mike Bossy (9 in 1981 w/ NYI).

Bet Oilers to Win Today
MyBookie Betting Lines for the Game