Early on, it looked like the Golden Knights were going to be run out of Rogers Place. The Oilers rode the energy off the home crowd to build a nice lead. Corey Perry, placed on a line with captain Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, opened the scoring several minutes into the first.

The Canes would extend their lead later in the middle stanza as Jack Roslovic scored on the power play, his first of the playoffs, giving Carolina some breathing room heading into the third period.