‘We’re not done’: Edmonton Oilers keen on continuing deep playoff push
EDMONTON – The Oilers aren’t settling for the second spherical.
Edmonton moved on to the subsequent section of the Stanley Cup playoffs with a 2-0 victory over the L.A. Kings in Recreation 7 on Saturday night time, however Leon Draisaitl mentioned the group’s work stays unfinished.
“It feels good, however we’re not carried out. This isn’t the tip. We haven’t reached something,“ he mentioned. ”It feels good to do it with this group. We’ve been via stuff all season — for lots of years, even — a variety of ups and downs, a variety of unfavourable stuff. It feels nice to have this sense proper now.
“Being down 3-2 (within the sequence), going to L.A., grinding one out, coming residence and discovering a method — it feels good.”
After beginning the season on a scorching streak, the Oilers struggled via December and early January earlier than firing head coach Dave Tippett on Feb. 10 and changing him with Jay Woodcroft, then-head coach of the American Hockey League’s Bakersfield Condors.
Edmonton completed the regular-season second within the Pacific Division with a 49-27-6 report and earned a house ice benefit.
However L.A. got here into the post-season sturdy and took a 4-3 win in Recreation 1. The Oilers roared again with lopsided victories in Video games 2 and three earlier than the Kings blanked Edmonton in Recreation 4 and pushed the membership to the brink of elimination with a 5-4 time beyond regulation win in Recreation 5. Recreation 6 in L.A. noticed the Oilers keep alive with a tightly contested 4-2 victory.
“We’ve confronted a variety of adversity all season,” Draisaitl mentioned. “There have been a variety of ups and downs, lots of people who counted us out lengthy earlier than the playoffs began. And we grabbed it.”
It’s the primary time the Oilers have superior within the playoffs since 2017 once they beat the San Jose Sharks in a six-game first-round sequence, then fell to the Anaheim Geese in seven video games in spherical two.
Since then, the post-season has been filled with heartache for hockey followers in Edmonton.
The Oilers didn’t make the playoffs in 2018 or 2019, then misplaced to the Chicago Blackhawks in a play-in sequence on residence ice within the bubble in the course of the COVID-condensed 2020 marketing campaign. Final 12 months, the Winnipeg Jets swept Edmonton in a four-game first-round sequence.
The group took these experiences to coronary heart, mentioned captain Connor McDavid.
“It’s simply utilizing classes from earlier errors,“ he mentioned. ”We now have made these errors prior to now and we didn’t shoot ourselves within the foot tonight, which was clearly constructive.”
McDavid — who led the NHL with 123 factors within the common season — has continued his dominance within the playoffs, posting a league-leading 14 factors (4 objectives, 10 assists) via the primary seven video games. He had a aim and an help, and registered greater than 27 minutes of ice time in Saturday’s essential victory.
“Our greatest gamers have been our greatest gamers on this sequence,“ mentioned goalie Mike Smith, who made 29 saves for his second shutout of the post-season in Recreation 7. ”And if you wish to get via one of many hardest rounds, your finest gamers must be on the prime of their recreation or higher.
“Each (McDavid and Draisaitl) have been our horses, our leaders and everybody else adopted. It’s not simply on Connor and Leon, however they certain did a heckuva job to get us getting in the best path and a variety of different guys stuffed within the gaps.”
Draisaitl appeared to play Saturday’s recreation with an ankle damage he suffered throughout a scrum in Recreation 6. Whereas the star sniper instructed reporters after Recreation 7 he was “superb,” Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft acknowledged he was enjoying via one thing.
“He’s a warrior, simply an absolute warrior,“ Woodcroft mentioned. ”He’s a giant sturdy man who, like (McDavid), is pushed to win. I believe that kind of mindset while you see individuals play via stuff is contagious. And so they’re a giant purpose, big purpose, why we’re at the place we’re at, which is we’re advancing to spherical quantity two.”
Saturday’s win is necessary, the coach mentioned, however the group has no plans to stop any time quickly.
“We’re making an attempt to get some relaxation and a few regeneration and put together for the subsequent problem,” he mentioned. “We mentioned this to our group yesterday: we didn’t come this far simply to come back this far. We’re right here to progress and proceed to maneuver our needle ahead.”
The second spherical will pit the Oilers towards the winner of Sunday’s Recreation 7 matchup between the Calgary Flames and Dallas Stars.
Many of the group can be watching the sport however nobody is rooting for one facet over the opposite, mentioned defenceman Cody Ceci.
“Both group is enjoying nice proper now. Each sequence is fairly shut,” he mentioned. “Both method we should refocus and prepare for the second spherical.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first revealed Might 15, 2022.
