Here's what Oilers players are saying heading into Game 2 tonight
The Edmonton Oilers have a 1-0 lead in a playoff series for the first time in seven years, but they aren’t letting the early success go to their head.
Edmonton rocked the LA Kings in Game 1 by a score of 7-4 and looked every bit like the offensive powerhouse they are supposed to be. The Kings, on the other hand, looked overwhelmed by the Oilers, and their infamous 1-3-1 system did little to stop Edmonton’s big guns from doing whatever they pleased.
It’d be easy to win a game like that and get a bit too confident and it might be something that a younger, more inexperienced Oilers team would take for granted. Yet, in the days since that decisive victory, the tone around the team is one of caution.
“You kind of take it game-by-game in the playoffs,” Leon Draisaitl told reporters this morning. “This is a marathon, we gotta do this every single game, every single night.”
"It’s nice to get off to a good start but obviously our minds are on Game 2 now."
Draisaitl previews tonight’s matchup with the Kings at @RogersPlace. @Enterprise | #LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/Z6XWgWQRBC
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) April 24, 2024
The overreaching sentiment from the players is that getting the win is nice, but they shouldn’t be counting their chickens before they’re hatched. The Oilers lost each of the last two Game 1s they’ve had against the Kings but still managed to win the series.
Edmonton is expecting a much better LA team to take the ice for Game 2 tonight.
“It’s a new day, a new game, you got to reset,” Corey Perry told reporters. “You know that they are going to come out, they are going to be a little better than they were the other night and you gotta be better than you were the other night.”
When asked after Game 1 if having a lead in the series changes the overall approach to the rest of the season, Oilers’ Connor McDavid shut down any notion that the win changed anything.
“It doesn’t change anything,” McDavid said. “We want to win every game. We’d want to win Game 2 even if we lost… we wanna win Game 2 even though we won Game 1, so it doesn’t change much. We gotta come out with that same urgency, that same desperation, and be ready to roll.”
"We have to come out with that same urgency, that same desperation. Be ready to roll."
McDavid & Skinner assess tonight’s performance & look ahead to Game 2. @Enterprise | #LetsGoOilers pic.twitter.com/LdUMIJhXOI
— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) April 23, 2024
The Oilers will be running with the same lineup as they did in Game 2 with Stuart Skinner manning the net. The Kings are expected to roll with Cam Talbot once again between the pipes.
Game time is set for 8 pm MT.
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