Oilers @ Panthers
Location: Amerant Bank Arena Sunrise Florida
Time: 5 PM MT
TV/Radio: SNW / 630 CHED
This team really need to figure out what it wants to be.
Oilers Lines:
STATS
RNH-McDavid- 3.25 milllion dollar Disconnected Brown third party controller
Kane-Draisaitl-Hyman
The New Foegele-McNoLeod-Ryan
Erne--Hamblin-Gagner
Ekholm-Bouchard
Nurse-Ceci
Kulak-Desharnais
Skinner?
Picard?
Panthers Lines:
STATS
Verhaeghe-Lundell-Reinhart (The good brother)
Rodrigues-Bennett-M. Tkachuk
Luostarinen-Stenlund-Cousins
Gadjovich-Lorentz-Lomberg
Forsling-Ekblad
Mikkola-Montour
Ekman-Larsson (<--- One person for those wondering)-Kulikov
Bobrovsky?
STATS
RNH-McDavid- 3.25 milllion dollar Disconnected Brown third party controller
Kane-Draisaitl-Hyman
The New Foegele-McNoLeod-Ryan
Erne--Hamblin-Gagner
Ekholm-Bouchard
Nurse-Ceci
Kulak-Desharnais
Skinner?
Picard?
Panthers Lines:
STATS
Verhaeghe-Lundell-Reinhart (The good brother)
Rodrigues-Bennett-M. Tkachuk
Luostarinen-Stenlund-Cousins
Gadjovich-Lorentz-Lomberg
Forsling-Ekblad
Mikkola-Montour
Ekman-Larsson (<--- One person for those wondering)-Kulikov
Bobrovsky?
PREVIEW: (Oilers.com)
SUNRISE, FL – The sun rises on another day and another opportunity for the Edmonton Oilers to continue turning things around on Monday when they continue their four-game road trip at Amerant Bank Arena against the Florida Panthers.
Despite seeing his team fall to defeat for the first time under his watch after having their three-game win streak come to an end on Saturday afternoon against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Head Coach Kris Knoblauch saw positives in the play of the Oilers when it comes to the systems he wants to implement and the details he wants to see his new team satisfy under his leadership.
“I thought we did a lot of things really well offensively. We created more scoring chances, especially early on in the game,” Knoblauch said. “Disappointing that the game got away from us, but our transition was good in the neutral zone. Every time the defenceman got the puck, it was almost always [put] in the forwards’ hands. The forwards I thought did a really good job of getting to the net and creating good scoring chances, and some assignments defensively could have been a little bit better.
“But definitely, there's more good than bad and surprising. You always look at success as usually winning and losing a hockey game, and in my perspective, I felt of my three games here that was our best game.”
The Oilers liked nearly everything about their game in the first 40 minutes in Tampa after receiving a short-handed goal from Derek Ryan, who notched his first two goals of the season in the 6-4 defeat, and soaking in the moment of James Hamblin’s first NHL goal that invigorated the bench before taking a 3-2 lead over the Lightning into the second intermission.
"It's unbelievable. Especially Hammer," Nurse said of the rookie's moment. "The amount of work that he puts in, the presence and the smile he brings to the room every day, I think anytime you see a teammate like that who's worked so hard to get to the position that he's in, he's really earned everything that he's gotten to see him score that goal was awesome.
"I kind of jumped right out of my seat there on the bench and it was good. So happy for him," Calvin Pickard said. "He's put a lot of work in and to see a guy like that get rewarded is great."
Knoblauch said post-game that he didn’t like how his team defended the advantage in the final period, with the forwards failing to lock down the middle of the ice and the collective defending of the Oilers falling short of what was required.
Tampa scored twice in 39 seconds, once on the power play and again off the rush, to take a 5-4 lead that the veteran Lightning team wouldn’t relinquish.
“I think they got a few more grade-A chances that just came off of ourselves creating the chances for them, so you’ve got to limit those,” Nurse said. “And with that said, I think we got back to doing some of the good things we did in that game. I think we'll get ourselves back on the right path.”
Nurse added that the task at hand for the Oilers is to continue to put themselves in those winnable positions while carrying their effort through the full 60 minutes.
“I think we did a lot of good things yesterday," he said. "You know, we didn't get the result we wanted, but if you go back to the game it's a winnable game, so you want to put yourself in that position as much as possible. And if you play the right way for a full sixty now, I think we left the gas there a little bit but [if we] play that way most nights, I think we're going to get the right result."
Despite the defeat on Saturday, it was important for the group to stay calm and even-keeled by reminding themselves that they’re winners of three of their last four games under Knoblauch.
“We’ve been pretty calm. We can't lose sight of the fact we've won three of our last four games, so it's not like we've lost three of our last four. And for us, we have to keep that perspective. I think if you're talking to us 48 or 72 hours ago, we're talking about how our game is coming. We can't lose sight of the fact that we're continuing to build and claw our way back here.”
PICK(ARD) YOUR SPOT
Through four games with the Oilers, netminder Calvin Pickard has yet to get a start as Stuart Skinner gets the runway of being Edmonton’s number-one goaltender.Pickard has been biding his time for a chance to make his first NHL start since Mar. 27, 2022 as a member of the Detroit Red Wings by utilizing the time at his disposal grinding and being a workhorse during team skates, both on game days and during practices.
“You got to take advantage of the practice days for sure; morning skates as well, making sure you're ready to go if called upon and working on my technical game and then obviously, facing a lot of rubber in practice, too. It's been good. I think I've been up for ten days. It’s been solid work in practice and I’m excited to get in there when the opportunity arises.”
Despite being with the Oilers for less than two weeks, the 31-year-old brings a lot of experience to the group as another calm voice inside the locker room.
“His leadership and being around the league brings a great, calming presence to the room and he's played in a lot of different situations, been around this game a long time and he's someone that our group can lean on day to day,” Nurse said. “He's got a great grasp of the ins and outs of this league.”
“It's all about confidence for sure,” Pickard said. “The guys have been playing confident and there's been some timely goals and it's fun. It's been fun to watch and we're only keep building.”
When it comes to maintaining a schedule for when Pickard could earn a start, Knoblauch mentioned the importance of having a roadmap for how the Oilers could deploy their goalies because you never know when you might have to detour.
“We do have a map, but that always changes,” he said. “And you know, we'll announce tomorrow morning who the starting goalie is, but like I said, things can always change. [Goaltending Coach] Dustin Schwartz myself and the coaching staff, we have a roadmap of how we see things playing out, but if a goalie plays really well or maybe he tweaks something, there are just so many variables that can change that. But it's good to have a plan.”
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