An intermission kick in the butt sparked a five-goal second-period outburst en route to a dominant win.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins said the Edmonton Oilers needed a bit of a wake-up in the first intermission to get going in the second, but they did so as a group, and the momentum completely changed. The result was five second-period goals en route to a 6-3 win over the Utah Mammoth on Tuesday night.
When asked about who gave the wake-up call, he said that the team gave themselves a "kick in the butt" and got a little motivation from their coach. "He wasn't screaming at us, by any means, but we needed to be better."
The Oilers responded.
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Knoblauch was asked about what was said during that first intermission.
"I don't know what the players had talked about, but our message from the coaching staff was, 'We have to work. We can't just come, show up, and think our skills are going to take over and win us hockey games."
Knoblauch wasn't at all thrilled about the number of times the team turned over the puck in the first period:
"We counted 16 times. You're probably looking at maybe two or three a period, ideally from a coach's standpoint it would be zero. We turned it over 16 times on the attack, which didn't allow us to get any offensive zone time, didn't allow us to pressure them, it was really easy for them, and we have to defend instead."-
He added, "Guys went to work and obviously, it got a lot better."
Mattias Ekholm admitted the team wasn't very good in the first, and he said personally, "I think just everybody felt enough was enough." He said he didn't like his own game over the past five or six games, but this was a much better outing for him and for several others.
Ekholm acknowledged that the coach said they needed to put their work boots on. He added, "Hopefully, we learn from this... We found our game. That’s got to be the standard moving forward.”
The Team Talk Worked, And The Oilers Have Found Something
The Oilers do need to take a note from their win over the Mammoth -- a team that had won seven straight. It was a strong character win and proof that Edmonton can beat anyone when they play their game.
When asked if the Oilers are forcing themselves to talk themselves into getting going year in and year out, Ekholm noted, "You're not wrong."
He then sarcastically joked that this is the best start the Oilers have had since he joined the team, which is ironic given how much their starts this season have been discussed. "We want to start better." He did say, "As long as we get into the playoffs, I'm happy."
Playing the way the Oilers did in the second, playoffs won't be a concern.
When asked about the five goals in the second period, Knoblauch said they were about entering the zone quickly. "We did get some nice bounces." Draisaitl and Emberson scored two nearly identical goals, and Knoblauch figured they were due there. "Yes, you have to be in the right spot, but it doesn't always work out that way." Again, being in the right place... that's a work boots kind of thing.
It wasn't just about a few players either. When I asked about him sticking with the same lines from the first to the second period, Knoblauch responded, "It was nothing with the line combinations or who was playing with who tonight; it was just a collective effort of not being there, of not working properly." He added, " I think we've got everyone probably in the chair that they should be. I don't think there's much need to make many changes now. Tonight, it was about players working things out and playing their game. They were able to do that."
Ekholm said there is a quiet confidence in the room and Knoblauch said this isn't a team that is easily phased by bad starts and less-than-ideal results.
The question now becomes, did the Oilers find that work-boot mentality and with it, did they get the wake-up call the team needed to go on a run?
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