Edmonton Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch shared a devastating update on defenseman Mattias Ekholm's availability for Round 2 of the playoffs against the Vegas Golden Knights. The Oilers secured a spot in the second round after defeating the LA Kings in six games on Thursday.
Will Mattias Ekholm be available for Round 2 against Vegas Golden Knights?
The 34-year-old has missed the entire Kings series due to an undisclosed injury that he suffered late during the regular season. Earlier there were hopes that he might return to the ice in time but Knoblauch said that Ekholm's status for the Golden Knights series is doubtful. He might need some more time to recover from his latest injury.
Mattias right now is doubtful for the second round. I think it's still going to be a little bit longer, Knonlauch said post-game.
Mattias Ekholm has been to able register 33 points through nine goals and 24 assists. He has a plus-11 in 65 regular season games. Not just this, he even clocks 22:12 minutes of ice time.
Kris Knoblauch on tactical change for Round 2 against Golden Knights
Kris Knoblauch shared his thoughts about the upcoming Round 2 series against Vegas Golden Knights. He mentioned that they have an unique system which is different from the Kings, who had an impressive run in the latter half of the regular season.
He further acknowledged the difficulty that the Kings series had but same tactics won't be used against Golden Knights that were used against the Kings.
For the series against Vegas, obviously, they play quite a bit different style than LA with their systems and the type of personnel they have. It's going to give us a whole new challenge, and I don't want to undersell LA, Knoblauch said.
They're a good team, and they had the best record in the second half of the season. It wasn't easy by any means, but the way we approach the two systems, it's going to give us a different challenge. We're going to have to change some things up. Things that were successful against LA might not be successful against Vegas, he added.
On the other hand, the Vegas Golden Knights have made it to the Round 2 after defeating the Minnesota Wild in six games. The last Oilers and Knights met in playoff series was back in 2023. The Golden Knights got the better of Oilers in six games during the second round and even went on to lift the Stanley Cup.