VANCOUVER -- The Edmonton Oilers are hoping to regroup with their season on the line heading into Game 6 of the Western Conference Second Round against the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Place on Saturday (8 p.m. ET; CBC, TVAS, SN, ESPN).
"You just have to take it one game at a time, we've got to go home and win one game at home," Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl said Friday, prior to departing to Edmonton. "That's all we have to do; don't think about the next game, focus on tomorrow and bring our best tomorrow, get a win and come back here."
Edmonton, which lost Game 5, 3-2 at Vancouver on Thursday, has been in this situation before.
In the opening round of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Oilers were down 3-2 in the best-of-7 series against the Los Angeles Kings before winning Game 6 on the road and Game 7 at home.
Last season, the Oilers were tied 2-2 in their second-round series against the Vegas Golden Knights and lost Game 5 on the road before being eliminated at home in Game 6.
"That's something to look back at but all these series, they all write their own history and their own story a little bit and there's not much to talk about," Draisaitl said. "We've got to go home and win one hockey game, we've done it a lot this year and just take it from there."
Draisaitl admitted the Oilers were outplayed in Game 5, outshot 35-23 and giving up the winning goal with 33 seconds in the third period.
Edmonton has otherwise played well in the series but was unable to hold a 4-1 lead in Game 1 and lost 4-3 in Game 3, despite outshooting Vancouver 45-18.
"We need to just get on our toes, we were just on our heels too much last game and just let them pressure us too much," Draisaitl said. "I thought they were the better team last night.
"We all know there's momentum swings, but you got to push through that and you got to find and create your own momentum and we didn't do that at all last night and just have to be better."