VANCOUVER – Edmonton Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch was mum about the statuses of top-six forwards Leon Draisaitl and Adam Henrique for Game 2, stating a decision will be announced closer to puck drop on Friday.
Based on Thursday’s practice, which neither player participated in, Draisaitl is far more likely to play than Henrique.
Extra forward Sam Gagner skated at center between Draisaitl’s linemates Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Evander Kane. Gagner likely acted as a placeholder for Draisaitl because there’s no chance he would take that spot in the lineup.
Warren Foegele, a top-six winger for long stretches this season, moved up next to Connor McDavid and Zach Hyman – which bumped trusted defensive player Mattias Janmark back down to the fourth line.
“Regardless, we have the guys in this room to be able to get the job done. We believe in that,” Nugent-Hopkins said. “Whoever has to step up into a different role, I think everybody can do that.”
Henrique hasn’t skated with his teammates since sustaining a suspected lower-body injury at the end of Game 5 of the Los Angeles series last Wednesday.
Conversely, Draisaitl left the bench in the second period in Game 1 against the Canucks and missed the final eight minutes of the frame with what Knoblauch called a cramping issue before returning in the third.
“I don’t really want to comment on it too much,” Hyman said, “but guys take days to rest as well.”
Regardless of either forward’s condition, the Oilers know they must improve compared to how they played in the series opener, a shocking 5-4 loss.
Knoblauch said his team looked “rusty” after a weeklong layoff and didn’t play with enough attention to detail.
“We know there’s another level to get to,” Nugent-Hopkins said.
Surrendering the game’s final four goals, relinquishing a 4-1 advantage with 23 minutes and allowing three goals in a 4:48 span in the third isn’t a recipe for success. It’s also downright unacceptable.
“I don’t think we played too well to begin with,” Hyman said. “We had an opportunity to win that game when we weren’t playing our best.
“It got away from us and we’ve got to be better.”
Knoblauch was even more blunt.
“We need to find our game – and we need to do it quickly,” he said.
That starts defensively.
The Athletic‘s Harman Dayal wrote about defensemen Darnell Nurse and Cody Ceci’s difficulties in Game 1. They were on the ice for four Canucks goals and finished with a minus-3 rating.
Nurse owned up to those personal and collective struggles on Thursday.
“I want to bring a little bit more from a defensive standpoint and keeping the puck out of our net,” he said. “A little more commitment to that and getting down to the O-zone.
“We didn’t play in the O-zone nearly enough. We didn’t generate or sustain. There were times in the game when we broke the puck out well and there were times when we didn’t.”
The Oilers were too passive, something McDavid mentioned after the game.
While they were praised for their lock-it-down efforts against the Kings in Game 4 when they were outshot 33-13 but kept high-danger odds to a minimum and won 1-0, they couldn’t replicate that on Thursday.
“I don’t think that they were getting breakaways or two-on-ones or things like that, but they had opportunities that we could have prevented better and helped (goalie) Stu (Skinner) on,” Hyman said.
The Oilers didn’t give up many quality chances – Natural Stat Trick had the third-period advantage at 2-1 in Edmonton’s favor – but they generated little offensively even after the Canucks tied the score and went ahead.
Getting eight shots in over the last two periods just isn’t going to cut it.
The Oilers had Canucks third-stringer Arturs Silovs prime for the picking, especially given Hyman’s second goal – a weak shot off the rush. Having four shots in the third – two at six-on-five – isn’t enough.
Knoblauch made it clear that isn’t the game plan anyway.
“We want to push,” he said. “We don’t want to be safe. We want to press for the next goal, but we want to do it responsibly. Absolutely, we do not want to sit back.”
“We learned we have to keep our foot on the gas and keep pressing,” Nugent-Hopkins said. “If we find ourselves in a situation like that again, that’s what we expect from ourselves.”
Losing a playoff game in such a manner stings, even a day later, but at least the Oilers are used to being in this situation – trailing going into Game 2.
Claiming the opener against the Kings on April 22 was their first win in a Game 1 after seven straight such losses. They’ve won three of those seven series. They’ve shown they can recover quite well.
“When you lose a game like that, it’s more frustrating than a game you’re down the whole way,” Hyman said. “When you wake up the next day, you’re in a familiar spot. We’ve been in this position multiple times since I’ve been here.
“I like this group when we’re faced with adversity. I think we’re a group that responds.”
It’s up to them to do that on Friday – no matter who’s in the lineup.
“We’ve been able to fight back,” Nugent-Hopkins said. “We can take some confidence from that.”
(Photo of Leon Draisatil: Sean M. Haffey / Getty Images)
