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The Oakland Athletics are a charter member of the American League, a franchise that dates to 1901, and in their nomadic century-plus of existence they’ve bounced from Philadelphia to Kansas City to Oakland. Now, they’ll head to Las Vegas. With a pair of rubber stamps from the Nevada Assembly and Senate on Wednesday, all that is needed to make the Las Vegas A’s a reality are approval from the governor of Nevada and the owners of the other 29 Major League Baseball teams, both at this point formalities.

They are the second team to move to Vegas from Oakland since the NHL’s Golden Knights became the city’s first major sports franchise. However, the A’s path to the desert hasn’t had the twists and turns like the route of the Raiders. Comparing and contrasting the two offers a fascinating study in a city’s embrace of an MLB team next to one in the NFL and reminds that no matter how much politicians try to squeeze sports franchises and restrict the use of public tax dollars, in the end, the allure of having a new team always outweighs the alternative.

The background

Raiders: ​​The Raiders, who moved back to Oakland in 1995 after a 13-year sojourn in Los Angeles, had long been hoping for never-to-come-to-fruition improvements to the Oakland Coliseum, but by the mid-2010s had mostly given up hope. The team initially hoped to be part of a plan in which the Oakland Coliseum was demolished, replaced by a baseball stadium for the A’s in the northeast parking lot, a Raiders football stadium in the southwest lot and a hotel with restaurants, shops and bars in the middle. The A’s nixed it.

Then the Raiders’ eyes turned to Los Angeles, in a joint plan to share a stadium with the Chargers in Carson. Though it was originally backed by an NFL owners committee, the plan was scuttled in favor of the Rams’ move from St. Louis to Inglewood, California, with the Chargers joining the Rams in L.A. Raiders owner Mark Davis said his team finished third in a three-team race.

The Raiders — who had already put together a pair of stadium proposals in two years — then focused on Las Vegas, all the more prepared to put together their plans. — Paul Gutierrez

A’s: For more than 20 years, the A’s have been trying to extricate themselves from the same dingy, plumbing-challenged, possum-infested Oakland Coliseum from which the Raiders ran. First, they wanted to go to San Jose and were blocked by the San Francisco Giants, who invoked their territorial rights. Then they wanted to build a new stadium in Oakland, and between organizational blundering and governmental intransigence, that failed, too. Whether it was flirtations with Fremont or all the different sites in the Oakland area, whatever the A’s considered, they always wound up in the same place: limbo.

That changed in May 2021, when Major League Baseball allowed the A’s to pursue potential relocation outside of the Bay Area. A’s owner John Fisher and team president Dave Kaval focused on Las Vegas, and while A’s officials spoke publicly about “parallel paths” — one in Vegas, one in Oakland — the decades of botched efforts to remain in the Bay, where they’d been since 1968, suggested that perhaps they weren’t so parallel after all. While the project to build a waterfront stadium at the Howard Terminal site in Oakland had more momentum than past efforts, a confluence of factors — chief among them, the success of the Golden Knights and Raiders in Las Vegas and MLB commissioner Rob Manfred waiving a $1 billion relocation fee for the A’s — made a move their primary path. — Jeff Passan

The announcement

Raiders: On April 28, 2016, Davis announced in a meeting of the Southern Nevada Tourism Infrastructure Committee, which boasted the star power of international soccer star and Las Vegas Sands Corp. pitchman David Beckham, that he was pledging $500 million toward the construction of a $1.4 billion, 65,000-seat domed stadium near the Las Vegas Strip. Davis said he hoped to turn the Silver State into the Silver and Black State.

“We have made a commitment to Las Vegas at this point in time, and that’s where it stands,” Davis said that day. “If Las Vegas can come through with what we’ve been talking about, and we can do a deal here, then we’re going to be the Las Vegas Raiders.”

When less than a year later, NFL owners voted 31-1 in favor of letting the Raiders relocate from Oakland (the Miami Dolphins were the lone dissenting vote), an ashen-faced Davis seemed stunned at the inevitable conclusion. Making his way to lunch at the Arizona Biltmore resort, where the owners meetings were occurring, Davis was stopped by the likes of NFL Hall of Famer John Elway to offer congratulations, and Davis’ first two calls to share the news were to his mother Carol and then-UNLV president Len Jessup. After all, the Rebels would be “sharing” the stadium with the Raiders.

“My father always said, ‘The greatness of the Raiders is in its future,'” Davis said. “And the opportunity to build a world-class stadium in the entertainment capital of the world is a significant step toward achieving that greatness. … The Raiders were born in Oakland, and Oakland will always be part of our DNA.” — Gutierrez

A’s: All of this started April 20, when the A’s announced they’d entered a “binding agreement” to purchase a 49-acre parcel of Las Vegas land on which they would construct a new $1.5 billion retractable-roof stadium to open in 2027. The city of Oakland, already forlorn after the Golden State Warriors‘ move to San Francisco and the Raiders’ to Vegas, were facing the extinction of professional sports in its city.

Then again, it almost felt like Oakland had lost the A’s already. The team that prided itself on being competitive despite miserly payrolls had gone from “Moneyball” to “Major League,” trading all of its best players in a fire sale that foretold a terrible 2023 season. On the day of the announcement that they would move to Las Vegas, a city that sells dreams of winning, the A’s were an MLB-worst 3-16. The A’s pledged to contribute $1 billion toward a $1.5 billion project, leaving $500 million to wheedle in public funding.

Despite the support of Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo and other government officials, the timing of the announcement left the team with a finite window to secure funding: The Nevada Legislature’s 2023 session would end in early June. And only a few weeks after the A’s laid out their plans, when in mid-May they left behind their “binding agreement” and pivoted to a smaller site on the Las Vegas Strip, it left some wondering if the A’s had missed their window. — Passan

The governmental approval process

Raiders: On top of the $500 million pledged by Davis for the new stadium, Sands CEO Sheldon Adelson pledged an additional $150 million. The remaining $750 million would be raised by public taxes. “We’re going to make them an offer they can’t refuse,” Davis often quipped of the Nevada government. Four and a half months after his announcement, the Southern Nevada Tourism Infrastructure Committee voted unanimously to recommend and approve $750 million for the stadium on Sept. 15, 2016. The Nevada Senate voted 16-5 on Oct. 11, 2016, to approve the funding bill, titled Senate Bill 1. It barely passed, as the bill needed 14 votes. On Oct. 14, the Nevada Assembly passed it, 28-13, and two days later, Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval signed the bill into law. The Raiders, in the midst of a 12-4 season and their first playoff appearance since 2002, were riding a wave of goodwill, both on the field and in the political spectrum: The same party controlled the governor’s mansion and the state legislature at the time. — Gutierrez

A’s: Less than two weeks after the A’s shifted sites, the Nevada Legislature introduced a bill that would put $380 million in public money toward a new stadium. The bill, called the Southern Nevada Tourism Innovation Act, was for $120 million less than the A’s were seeking — and would need a majority vote from the 21-person Senate followed by the same in the 42-person Assembly before being signed into law by Lombardo.

In a hearing, Democrats who control the Senate grilled the two men the A’s hoped would sell their vision: Las Vegas tourism executive Steve Hill and Jeremy Aguero, an analyst whose projections for the A’s invited even more skepticism. The A’s are seeking a 30,000-seat stadium, which would be the smallest in MLB, and Aguero projected attendance at 28,000. Only one team in MLB this year, Atlanta, fills its stadium to a higher percentage of capacity than Aguero’s projected 93.3% for the A’s.

The Senate’s dubiousness did not last. After Lombardo mandated a special session, a new bill was introduced and included two non-baseball-related, Democrat-backed provisions that Lombardo, a Republican, had previously vetoed as well as minuscule concessions from the A’s — including a suite at the new stadium for community groups and a $2 million pledge a year for the same. On Tuesday, the Senate passed the new bill by a 13-8 vote. A day later, after a few minor amendments of its own, the Nevada Assembly did the same. And now Lombardo, long a proponent of the Las Vegas A’s, needs only the swoop of his signature to make it law. — Passan

The build timeline

Raiders: In an emotional ceremony paying tribute to the 58 lives lost in the Oct. 1 mass shooting less than two miles away, the Raiders broke ground on Allegiant Stadium on Nov. 13, 2017. The team would hold its first practice in its new home on the corner of Al Davis Way and Dean Martin Drive less than three years later, on Aug. 21, 2020. Davis, lording over the scene from beneath the 95-foot tall Al Davis Torch on the Los Angeles Coliseum peristyle-inspired end of the stadium with lanai doors that open to the Strip, addressed the team. “Welcome to the Death Star,” Davis said, “where our opponents’ dreams come to die.”

It had been an awkward three-year farewell to Oakland, as the Raiders played three lame-duck seasons at the Coliseum, sharing it with the A’s, who had removed several sections of Raiders season-ticket holders seats to the Raiders’ dismay. The team also saw its Coliseum rent triple at the same time that money from stadium naming rights was lost. And while Davis said he hoped to leave the Bay Area with a Super Bowl championship before departing for the desert, the Raiders were a combined 17-31 in their last three years in Oakland (they went 12-12 at home). Fans booed quarterback Derek Carr off the field in the Oakland finale, a dispiriting loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars, and threw trash and food at players as they left the field the final time. Carr said it was time for some “fresh air.” — Gutierrez

A’s: In 2014, after getting stonewalled in their attempt to move to San Jose, the A’s signed a 10-year extension on their lease at the Coliseum (it expires after the 2024 season). The team says it plans to spend the 2025 and 2026 seasons at Las Vegas Ballpark — the 10,000-capacity stadium that houses its Triple-A affiliate — before moving into the new stadium for the 2027 season.

Timelines, of course, are met most easily when there is a deal in place. (There isn’t.) Or when there are plans for a stadium. (Public officials have seen only renderings.) Or when an organization has approval to move, and that timing is entirely unclear: While the plan was for MLB owners to vote on the A’s moving to Las Vegas at the owners’ meetings this week, that vote is now off. A 2027 opening for the new Vegas park remains the goal. But much like the lack of forethought led to the legislature’s public disillusionment, the longer the A’s take to firm up their plan, the less likely a well-executed one becomes. — Passan

The public response

Raiders: Fans gathered at the iconic WELCOME TO FABULOUS LAS VEGAS sign at the southern end of the Strip and celebrated after the vote was announced in 2017. And while Davis made the decision to not allow fans into Allegiant Stadium in 2020 due to the pandemic, the Raiders have averaged 61,590 fans in 17 regular-season home games since — despite some continued COVID restrictions in 2021 (they averaged 62,045 in eight games last season, when no restrictions were in place).

It is a decidedly more mellow atmosphere than in Oakland, where Raider Nation and the Black Hole cut an imposing image. Allegiant has a true Las Vegas club vibe, with halftime concerts befitting a Super Bowl halftime show, from Santana to Ice Cube to John Fogerty performing. Alas, while the Raiders did a pre-move study to show that most season-ticket holders would be Raiders fans, Las Vegas is a destination city, and those personal seat licenses and accompanying seats are expensive. So if/when the team is not doing well, it’s easy enough for those fans to recoup some of those costs by selling seats to visiting fans, as evidenced by Bears fans overtaking Allegiant Stadium in 2021 and Broncos, Chiefs and 49ers supporters doing the same last year. — Gutierrez

A’s: To be clear, this is not like when the Raiders, an iconic brand in the dominant American sport, were coming to Vegas. Nor is it like the Golden Knights, who built their identity around becoming the first major professional sports team in Las Vegas.

Here is the reality about the A’s. Even after a recent seven-game winning streak, they are 19-50 — on pace to go 45-117 this season. They have the lowest payroll in baseball, and it’s not really close. Fisher, their owner, is widely regarded inside the game as one of the worst in the sport, loath to devote the proper resources — payroll, infrastructure, manpower and other areas — to winning. The team’s farm system can’t provide immediate help. Las Vegas, which could have potentially gotten an expansion franchise, instead stands to inherit a team whose problems go well beyond a dreadful stadium.

Though there are plenty in Las Vegas who want the A’s to come — casinos, commerce wonks, labor unions — the loudest voices belong not to the advocates but the aggrieved. Oakland fans are livid. They believe that if Fisher would sell the team, the new owner could work with Mayor Sheng Thao and make Howard Terminal a reality. Fans gathered Tuesday at the Coliseum for a so-called reverse boycott, when more than 27,000 fans showed up and feted Fisher with booming, relentless chants of “Sell the team.” They were there to say that Oakland is a baseball city and that their refusal to show up to the stadium isn’t an indictment on the fan base. It’s the natural reaction to an owner who treats them like John Fisher does. — Passan

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Stanley Cup playoffs daily: Senators on the brink, while Avs, Knights, Bolts try to punch back

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Stanley Cup playoffs daily: Senators on the brink, while Avs, Knights, Bolts try to punch back

All but one NHL team will end the season on a bitter note, as there can be only one Stanley Cup champion. But on Saturday, we could have our very first playoff elimination of the 2025 playoffs.

The Ottawa Senators are on the brink heading into Saturday’s game. Despite taking the heavily favored Toronto Maple Leafs to overtime twice in a row, the Atlantic Division champs have scored the game winner each time in the extra session. Can the Senators win one in front of the home crowd to extend the series to five games?

Elsewhere in the Atlantic bracket, the Florida Panthers won both of the first two games in the Tampa Bay Lightning‘s building. Will this be a shorter series than many expected? And out West, the Minnesota Wild will look to extend their shocking series lead over the Vegas Golden Knights, and the Clash of the Western Titans continues in the Centennial State, as the Colorado Avalanche look to even things up with the Dallas Stars.

Read on for game previews with statistical insights from ESPN Research, recaps of what went down in Friday’s games, and the Three Stars of Friday Night from Arda Öcal.

Matchup notes

Tampa Bay Lightning at Florida Panthers
Game 3 (FLA leads 2-0) | 1 p.m. ET | TBS

Having served his suspension for performance-enhancing substances, Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad is eligible to return for this game. The well-rounded blueliner skated 23:30 per game during the regular season, scoring three goals and 30 assists in 56 games.

The Panthers have another defenseman who has been delivering this postseason; Nate Schmidt scored a goal in Games 1 and 2, becoming the first defenseman in franchise history with two game-winning goals in a single postseason — and they’re only two games in!

All eyes will be on the status of Aleksander Barkov, who was knocked out of Game 2 via a hit from Brandon Hagel; Hagel was assessed a five-minute major penalty for the play and suspended for Game 3.

Tampa Bay needs its stars and its scoring depth to get rolling to charge back into this series, with just two goals total in two games. Goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy has not been up to his typical, superhuman standards thus far, allowing seven goals on 39 shots (.821 save percentage).

In Stanley Cup playoff history, teams that start 2-0 in a best-of-seven series have won 86% of the time; that number rises to 98% if a team starts 3-0.

Vegas Golden Knights at Minnesota Wild
Game 4 (MIN leads 2-1) | 4 p.m. ET | TBS

If nothing else, this series has been a unique one from a starting-time perspective; each of the first four games will have had a different scheduled start time once the puck is dropped Saturday — 10 p.m. ET for Game 1, 11 p.m. ET for Game 2, 9 p.m. ET for Game 3 and 4 p.m. ET for this one.

Most observers didn’t believe the Wild were going to win this series. Nor did many predict that Minnesota players would be all over the scoring leaderboard midway through Round 1. Kirill Kaprizov is tied for the playoff scoring lead with Adrian Kempe and Cam Fowler (seven points), and is tied with teammate Matt Boldy for the goal-scoring lead, with four. The current playoff assists leader? Wild blueliner Jared Spurgeon.

This has been an uncharacteristically rough opening round for Adin Hill. He’s allowed 10 goals on 57 shots, generating a .825 save percentage and 3.78 goals-against average. Those rates were .932 and 2.17, respectively, in Hill’s 16 games played during the Knights’ 2023 Stanley Cup run.

While “Playoff” Tomas Hertl has shown up this series — to the tune of two goals and an assist — some of the Knights’ other offensive standbys have been quiet. Jack Eichel, Mark Stone and Ivan Barbashev — who combined for 212 points in the regular season — all have a goose egg thus far.

Toronto Maple Leafs at Ottawa Senators
Game 4 (TOR leads 3-0) | 7 p.m. ET | TBS

The Maple Leafs have been led by a consistently strong performance of their Core Four of Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander and John Tavares; the quartet leads Toronto in scoring through three games. Perhaps a narrative is being rewritten before our eyes, after years of playoff disappointment for that group?

One specific area where Toronto has been dominant is the power play; their 55.6% conversion rate is tops in the league this postseason (and makes up, somewhat, for a penalty kill that is just 77.8% effective).

The Senators have had five different goal scorers this series, including Brady Tkachuk, who has been giving his all in his first playoff experience. Ottawa’s captain has two goals — and four penalty minutes, as he has kept himself in the mix whenever the action has gotten rowdier.

Will Ottawa stick with Linus Ullmark in goal for Game 4? The veteran has an .815 save percentage through the first three games — and an .874 mark in his postseason career.

Dallas Stars at Colorado Avalanche
Game 4 (DAL leads 2-1) | 9:30 p.m. ET | TBS

Game 3 was all about the return of Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog after an absence of 1,032 days. Landeskog skated 13:16 in the game, but did not record a point or a shot on goal.

While other teams are generating historic numbers on the power play this postseason, the Avs have struggled to a 15.4% conversion rate (fourth worst). This is in stark contrast to the regular season, when the Avs’ 24.8% rate was eighth in the league.

Tyler Seguin‘s overtime goal sealed the deal for Dallas in Game 3. it was just the second OT game winner in his career, after a span of 13 years (April 22, 2012).

The other good news on the Dallas front is that Mikko Rantanen — former Av, who was acquired on March 7 — finally picked up his first point of the series, an assist on the OT game winner. Have the floodgates opened?


Arda’s three stars from Friday night

1. The Oilers-Kings series
LA up 2-1 | 30 goals in three games

The first three games have been bonkers. Game 1 almost had an all-timer comeback, then the Kings rocked Edmonton in Game 2, while Game 3 saw multiple lead changes, quick back-to-back goals, a failed coaches challenge by L.A. on an Edmonton goal — which led to an Oilers’ power-play goal to take the lead. Just incredible.

Nemec scored the overtime winner in Newark to win the game for the Devils over the Canes — and avoid going down 0-3 in the series. This came after stints in the AHL this season, and being a healthy scratch earlier in the series.

“Goal” Caufield had a goal and an assist in Montreal’s emphatic 6-3 win over Washington in Game 3.

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Cole Caufield scores with a one-timer for Montreal

Cole Caufield scores on a one-timer to give the Canadiens the lead late in the second period.


Friday’s scores

Montreal Canadiens 6, Washington Capitals 3
WSH leads 2-1

The Bell Centre was electric for the Canadiens’ first home game in quite some time — and the fans were sent home quite happy on Friday night after a wild game. The two teams traded goals through most of the first two periods before Cole Caufield put Montreal up one at the end of the second — and a brawl ensued that spilled into the Washington bench. Although Alex Ovechkin scored 2:39 into the third to tie the game 3-3, the Habs poured it on thereafter with three straight goals, sending the “Olé!” chants to unforeseen decibel levels. Recap.

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Christian Dvorak helps Canadiens regain the lead

Christian Dvorak finds the net in the third period to help the Canadiens to retake the lead vs. the Capitals.

New Jersey Devils 3, Carolina Hurricanes 2 (2OT)
CAR leads 2-1

Down 0-2 in the series, the Devils went up 2-0 in their first game back home, on goals from Nico Hischier and Dawson Mercer. But a pair of third-period, power-play goals — from Seth Jarvis and Sebastian Aho — knotted things up, and the game went to overtime. Scoreless after one extra period, the game was ended by Simon Nemec, the second overall pick in the 2022 draft, who had been a healthy scratch previously in the series. Recap.

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Simon Nemec’s wrister wins it in 2OT for the Devils

Simon Nemec finds the winning goal as the Devils outlast the Hurricanes in double overtime.

Edmonton Oilers 7, Los Angeles Kings 4
LA leads 2-1

It takes a full-team effort to get up off the proverbial canvas when down 0-2 in a series, and that’s just what the Oilers got on Friday. Ten different Oilers hit the scoresheet in this one, including superstars like Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Evan Bouchard, as well players further down the lineup like Connor Brown and Evander Kane. The Oilers also made the switch in goal to Calvin Pickard for this game, and he responded with 24 saves on 28 shots. On the Kings’ side, Adrian Kempe had his fourth goal and fifth assist of the playoffs, putting him into first in the points race and tied for first in the goals race. Recap.

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Connor McDavid’s empty-netter secures Game 3 for the Oilers

Connor McDavid notches the empty-netter to secure a Game 3 win for the Oilers.

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Devils’ Nemec, scratched in G1, plays 2OT hero

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Devils' Nemec, scratched in G1, plays 2OT hero

NEWARK, N.J. — Simon Nemec hasn’t had an ideal start to his NHL career. But in Game 3 of the New Jersey Devils‘ Stanley Cup playoff series against the Carolina Hurricanes, he finally had his career highlight.

The 21-year-old defenseman scored an unassisted goal at 2:36 of double overtime on Friday night to give the Devils a 3-2 win and new life, cutting the Hurricanes’ series lead to 2-1.

In the process, Nemec, the No. 2 pick in the 2022 NHL draft, had the most impactful moment of his pro career with his first playoff goal.

“I was so happy,” he said. “Amazing feeling. It’s been a tough season for me, and that’s a really big win for us.”

A native of Slovakia, Nemec spent his first season after the draft in the American Hockey League. He split time between the AHL and the Devils in Year 2, thrust into action because of injuries to the New Jersey defense. He split time between the NHL and the minors again this season. Nemec has played 87 games in the NHL, with five goals and 18 assists while skating to a minus-17.

He was a frequent healthy scratch in New Jersey, including Game 1 on Sunday, and his lackluster play caused many to wonder if Nemec would live up to his lofty draft position. Nemec was last on the Devils in goals above replacement at minus-8.7, according to Evolving Hockey.

Thanks to injuries to defensemen Luke Hughes and Brenden Dillon, Nemec was called upon in Game 2 against Carolina and was back in the lineup for Game 3, in which the Devils lost defenseman Johnathan Kovacevic to injury after just 10 shifts. That injury, plus the multiple overtimes, meant massive increases in ice time for veterans such as Brian Dumoulin (36:29) and Brett Pesce (32:25), as well as more responsibility for Nemec.

“You just need guys to step up at the right times,” Dumoulin said. “He knew he was going to be going out there, we’re going to be relying on him, and we needed him. You could see that he took that moment. He wasn’t scared of it, and he took the reins of it.”

Nemec said the overtime goal, which beat Carolina goalie Frederik Andersen (34 saves), was the kind of boost he needs in his career.

“Yeah, it helps me a lot,” he said. “I feel like my confidence is back the last couple games. I’m just trying to play my game and do this stuff. I have to play offense a little bit, too, so my confidence is higher, and I just feel good about myself.”

Devils coach Sheldon Keefe admitted that he dreamed about defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler, who returned to the lineup for the first time since Feb. 4 and played 27:09, being the Game 3 hero.

“But if I was really thinking, I would have said, ‘Wouldn’t this be something if the young guy who just stepped up so big for us here, if he ended the game?'” Keefe said.

The message the coach gave his team in the overtime intermissions was one of aggressiveness. That apparently wasn’t lost on Nemec.

“We’ve got to go win this hockey game. We don’t want to sit back, we don’t want this game to go on forever,” Keefe said. “Credit Nemo with doing that. To have the mindset to do it, not just sitting back and conserving energy. He was on the front foot. You love to see it and love to see him get rewarded.”

Game 4 of the series will be Sunday afternoon in New Jersey.

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Follow live: Kings look to take 3-0 series lead vs. Oilers

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