NHL announces scheduling of Oilers playoffs with rare change

The NHL has often pushed the Oilers back for later puck drops at 8:00PM in the playoffs, as happened last series, but start times will be different in the second round.

Oilers insider Jason Gregor has shared the fully up to date schedule, including a rare 7:00 puck drop on home ice for Edmonton.

It will be a fast-paced series, with no two day rests in between games at all - partly due to scheduling conflicts in Edmonton and Vegas.

However, it's significant change to see the Oilers finally get at 7:00 start time on home ice for a Saturday game. Most of the time, including in the first round, the Oilers had 8:00 start times to accommodate the TV schedule of Eastern teams.

Connor McDavid is actually on record earlier this season saying he prefers the earlier start times to later ones, and specifically mentioned the 8:00 starts in their own building as the worst.

He was referencing schedule changes for the Leafs, and in a way, their series schedule is still influencing their schedule.

If Toronto was scheduled to play Saturday, it likely would've been another 8:00 start. For the final 3 games of the series if necessary, they will likely be late starts due to Toronto games.

For now though, the Oilers and Edmonton fans will take an awesome Saturday of playoff hockey.