During their five-game win streak, the Edmonton Oilers broke out of their zone cleanly and weren’t leaking chances off the rush.

Those issues returned in a 5-1 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights, a night where a woman going into labour at Rogers Place, and a fan getting bloodied with a puck provided some of the best highlights.

The Oilers threatened to push late in the second period and at the beginning of the third. But alas.

Woz

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Someone got hit in the head by a puck and apparently a woman is giving birth at Rogers Place, what a Saturday night.

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4:17 AM · Apr 5, 2026

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Between mistakes with the puck, a power play that couldn’t carry over momentum after scoring on Thursday, a Golden Knights forecheck that controlled the second period, and the removal of Zach Hyman from the top-six, it was one of those nights.

“The story was just the chances we gave up off the rush,” said coach Kris Knoblauch post-game, who had called the game “adequate” overall.

“When things are going well, you can forget about those details, those first couple strides coming back, you get a little extra aggressive on the pinch. You’re just maybe overconfident, get a little bit lazy, or whatever it is, I think we’re just were not paying attention to those details.”

The end of game chirping saw Trent Frederic in the middle of the jocular jabs, colour commentator Louis Debrusk gripping the microphone tight so no expletives seeped onto the air. It led to the quip of the night.

“It’s just bickering back and forth, everyone telling everyone they make too much money, stuff like that, which is all true,” said Frederic.

Touché.

Hyman hurts

The Oilers three game trip gets more interesting with the news that Hyman won’t travel with the team. Line combinations that were working the win streak need re-evaluating, as the Oilers are missing 66 goals from their lineup, a total of 24.9 per cent.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins wasn’t working with McDavid’s line, and the Oilers scored their lone goal after Jack Roslovic replaced him. Roslovic’s third line with Samanski and Kapanen had a tough night, the victims of many of those rush chances.

It would make sense to have a good long look at the powerplay in practice. The Oilers are 2/24 without Draisaitl. The PK’s streak of 12 straight kills was snapped, and is 16/20 during that same span.

Considering how inconsistent the five-on-five offence has been all season, for the Oilers to be minus-2 on special teams and go 7-3 without their second best player is very impressive. They’re 11th in both five-on-five goal share and expected goal share across the NHL in the last 10 games, according to Moneypuck. It translates to a plus-3 goal differential even-strength in that stretch.

That’s not something I thought this Oilers team could do without Draisaitl.

That’s especially true with Connor McDavid’s play. He hasn’t gone supernova. In fact, there’s been games where he seems to be forcing pucks, particularly on the powerplay. The........

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