Edmonton Oilers players discuss long break before Western Conference Final

The Edmonton Oilers aren’t viewing their rather lengthy break from playoff action as a negative situation.

The Oilers were last in action on Wednesday night, a game in which they were able to eliminate the Vegas Golden Knights thanks to a 1-0 overtime victory. Since then, they’ve been sitting back and waiting the winner between the Dallas Stars and Winnipeg Jets to determine who they will play in the next round.

The long break could see them wait more than a week before getting back into action, which could be viewed as a negative for a team who had been firing on all cylinders. The Oilers players seem to be viewing it in a much different lense, however.

“It’s a good chance to regroup, settle a bit, get some energy back and focus on ourselves,” Ryan Nugent-Hopkins told reporters on Saturday. “At the same time, you can start thinking about [the opponent], start going through some stuff. We’ll be watching [the Jets and Stars series] and see what happens.

The long break could wind up being beneficial for the Oilers, who, dating back to last season, have played a ton of hockey and have certainly battled through their bumps and bruises along the way.

“The quicker you can finish a series up, the better shape you’ll be in,” Zach Hyman said. “The playoffs are a grind, the regular season is a grind, so any time you can get a couple of days it’s nice.”

Taking positives from the long break seems to be somewhat of a discussion point throughout the locker room, as head coach Kris Knoblauch explained that he’s been using it as an opportunity to give the players a bit of time off from coming to the arena.

“I think it’s important that the guys have some time off. We gave them two days off,” Knoblauch said. “We’ve got a long stretch [off]. There’s almost a chance that we were playing already. Obviously we’re not playing until later in the week, and we don’t want to make it too monotonous for our players. We’re going to spread out our practices and give them plenty of time off.”

The Stars will have a chance to close out their second-round series on Saturday evening in a game versus the Jets. Should they fail to do so, the two will head back to Winnipeg for Game 7 on Monday night.

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