Adam Henrique is finding his groove playing anywhere he is needed for the Edmonton Oilers.
Adam Henrique is finding his groove playing anywhere he is needed for the Edmonton Oilers.
EDMONTON -- It was only a matter of time.
Adam Henrique was able to bang home his first goal in an Edmonton Oilers uniform. He scored the second goal in a 3-2 win for the Oilers. With the win the Oilers now have a record of 41-21-4, which is good for 86 points and maintaining second place in the Pacific Division.
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He was at the net when he eventually scored - the place where every coach at every level of competition tells players they need to go.
Kris Knoblauch didn't put the line together for the purpose of scoring. In his post game comments, he mentioned a different role for the line, "we wanted more of a shut down line tonight with Rico [Henrique], [Ryan] Nugent-Hopkins and DR [Derek Ryan] in that role tonight."
As time progresses, coaches want to find out the best situations to use different players. The process is no different for Knoblauch, "as a coach you're always trying to find out how to use somebody."
For Henrique it started as just even strength ice time - and has evolved to include both special teams units, "the extra ice time comes from special teams. Now he's on the second power play unit, which gets a bit of time. Now we're using him on the penalty kill. Now tonight he was [in a] shutdown role."
"A player like that a coach likes and wants to use more and more."
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Now six games deep into his tenure with the Oilers and Henrique looks like he's settling into his role with the team. For Henrique though, he told the media after the game that he hasn't felt like his game has been lacking, "I felt like my game has been good."
"Of course you want to score...you want to find a way to contribute."
Henrique let the media into what his focus has been since arriving in Edmonton, "you want the complete game to be there."
It's no secret that Henrique came from a team that wasn't doing well this season. On that team he had a prominent role - taking on big minutes in every situation. That hasn't been the case with the Oilers.
Henrique is a mature player - he knows that good teams need players to fulfil certain duties and he's not oblivious to that, "in a team there's roles throughout the entire lineup. You want to be able to adjust quick and settle in somewhere in the lineup."
"Things do change. Sometimes minutes are less, or there's no power play or you're on the penalty kill - or on the third or fourth line."
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At the end of the day, competitive teams are often the deepest. Henrique is more than happy to add that depth to the Oilers, "it makes the team more challenging as a whole. We're willing to sacrifice a bit to make this team better and make a big run."
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