Las Vegas and Edmonton are separated by nearly 1,500 miles and though rivalries often are based on geography, there’s nothing like the heat of the NHL playoffs to create animosity between teams. The Oilers and Golden Knights meet in Vegas for Game 1 of their Western Conference series,

Each day, our writers here at Last Word on Hockey look at the games and give in-depth analysis. Our team breaks down the key matchups, storylines, and stats, then makes predictions based on how they might play out.

Backs against the wall, the Golden Knights and Oilers showed exactly why they’ve been frequent fliers past the first round — and why the Minnesota Wild and Los Angeles Kings were first-round fodder once again.