EDMONTON – “I think everybody was ready to bring their A-game, and most of them did.”
Everyone counted them out. Down 2-0 in the series, the obstacles seemed insurmountable.
The Edmonton Oilers never counted themselves out.
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Instead, Kris Knoblauch rolled all of his lines out against the Los Angeles Kings and came out with a commanding 3-1 win in Game 5 to push the Kings to the edge of elimination.
Head coach Knoblauch was impressed with his group’s performance in Game 5, especially given the circumstances.
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EDMONTON – “It was incredible to be in the rink in Game Six last year.”
“I believe they (Kings) had the best record in the second half of the season,” Knoblauch stated. “So for us to come out and play as well as we did tonight against a good, quality team and in their building, I thought it was a great effort from our guys.”
The Oilers' goal scoring came from three different players in Game 5. Evander Kane, Mattias Janmark, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins all pitched in to come out with a victory.
“Everyone was contributing,” Knoblauch revealed. “That goes for the backend, the forwards, all the lines. The Janmark line only played between 7-10 minutes…they come up big with a huge goal.”
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EDMONTON – “What can you say?”
“The guys on the penalty kill at the end of the game, that was a huge kill. Everyone…very happy with what they provided.”
The Kings primarily relied on nine forwards, like they have for the majority of the series. The Oilers only had two forwards play less than 10 minutes, and those players still played more than the Kings' fourth line.
It takes an entire team to win, and Knoblauch challenged every player to bring their best to this game.
POST-RAW | Kris Knoblauch 04.29.25
Kris speaks to the media following Tuesday's dominant 3-1 win over the Kings in Game 5 to take a 3-2 series advantage.
“Coming into this building…we challenged every line to bring something tonight,” Knoblauch said. “There’s no line that we’re hiding. We can have our fourth line play against the other team’s top line.”
Confidence is sky high right now. However, the work is not done, with Game 6 scheduled for Thursday night.
Luckily for the Oilers, they can roll their line combinations out, regardless of who hops over the boards for the Kings.
“We don’t have to worry about matchups; we can just roll our lines.”
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