Kris Knoblauch spoke to the media before the Edmonton Oilers head home today.
Kris Knoblauch spoke to the media before the Edmonton Oilers head home today.
EDMONTON -- They are down, but not out.
At least, not yet.
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The Edmonton Oilers have two games to win to even up their series against the Florida Panthers. They have been down before during these playoffs, and they will need to dig deep to claw themselves out.
They lost a heated Game two that saw the team register 45 penalty minutes. Perhaps the greatest loss for the team might be their alternate captain Darnell Nurse.
Nurse finished the game with 4:20 of ice time. He was spotted going between the dressing room and the bench for the majority of the night. Nurse tried to go out onto the ice several times after his initial injury in the first period.
Head coach Kris Knoblauch spoke to the media this morning before leaving Florida. Off the hop he spoke about where things are at with Nurse, "I have not spoken to our medical staff. I'll be seeing them in about 15 minutes and I'll get their report then."
"Big part of the team is quite the understatement."
As far as looking ahead to Game three, Knoblauch gave his thoughts on some things that the Oilers need to improve in Game three to achieve a different result. "Goal scoring, being able to put the puck in the net is one of the things," Knoblauch began. He continued, "I think we generated enough opportunities in the first game, not enough in the second. Obviously we'll look at special teams...that's something we spend a lot of emphasis on."
"We want to look at how we can improve our breakouts, our forechecks, our defensive zone coverage. We're never satisfied after a game. Whether it's a win or a loss, we're always looking to get better."
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The players and coaching staff have two days to regroup and gear up for Game three. With the Oilers practicing tomorrow, there should be an update on Nurse's status. Either he will be practicing and good to go, or he will be absent and more questions will be raised.
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