Edmonton Oilers' defenseman Brett Kulak had high praise for his team yesterday.
Edmonton Oilers' defenseman Brett Kulak had high praise for his team yesterday.
"We know we are a top team in the league," Oilers blueliner Brett Kulak said at a media availability at practice yesterday.
Kulak said they must keep their confidence.
"You can't get frustrated when we're not playing to our best. Just keeping feeling good and stick together and keep playing our game and we'll win a lot of games," he said.
He said losing has been difficult for the team in light of their almost record-breaking 16-game win streak, broken by the Las Vegas Golden Knights on Feb. 6.
The Oilers have lost three of their last five games.
"This is new to us right now. We didn't lose a game for so long, so when we lose, it doesn't feel good," he said.
They face the Dallas Stars in Texas this afternoon, with Dallas now ranking first in the Central Division with 74 points, 11 points ahead of the Oilers, who sit it at third in the Pacific Division. The Oilers are only three points from losing their playoff spot to the Los Angeles Kings.
The Stars are high off a 9-2 win on Thursday against the Nashville Predators, but Kulak did not appear to be intimidated by that.
"Any team's got that ability," he said in response to a question about that. "If you're soft on defense, they're going to put the puck in the net on you," he said.
Kulak said they generally give up only a goal or two when they win, and they want that to be the case most of the time. He said the winning streak gave them a great deal of confidence.
"When you win 16 in a row, everything's feeling good, it feels like you might never lose. But the reality is you lose games, and you have bad periods, and things go wrong. So, it's just working through that," he said.
The Oilers are coming off an emotional, 6-3 road loss to the St. Louis Blues, during which Kulak notched an assist, five shots on goal, and 19:21 of ice time.
Kulak's five shots tied with Zach Hyman for the most individual shot counts of both teams.
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZT_C2MT0lU[/embed]
"I think it's just, do what you do individually to prepare for the next one. Yeah, we're busy, it's a quick turnaround, we'll have a flight today and we'll be playing the game tomorrow before we know it," he said when asked how they come back from something like that.
He said getting rest is important, so they feel good, have energy, and are ready for the puck drop.
Goal-scoring and shot-taking was widely distributed for the Blues, with each of their six goals being scored by a different player. The same held true for the Oilers, with Leon Draisaitl, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, and Corey Perry all lighting the lamp once.
Kulak has notched three assists, eight blocks, and a takeaway in his past 10 games.
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