BLOG: Oilers bear down at practice following defeat to Sabres

EDMONTON, AB - Another game down at this early juncture in the season means more teaching moments for the Edmonton Oilers to sink their teeth into at practice.
The Oilers digested the details from their 4-2 defeat to the Buffalo Sabres and returned to the ice on Wednesday at Rogers Place for a full skate, where they continued to work on making tangible improvements to their game in order to find a rhythm with only three games of their 82-game regular season completed.
"I think what you do as a coaching staff is you review the game the next morning to confirm what you thought you saw," Head Coach Jay Woodcroft said. "You do your work and want to make sure you're seeing it clearly. I think that all comes down to believing in the process of playing the game the right way, and I thought yesterday we took steps towards that.
"There were some really good moments in that game for us, and then there were a couple of moments that got away from us. So I think there are teachable moments for sure, but there's also a lot of good stuff in there that we can build on as we move forward here."
The message for the Oilers from the first two games was focused on improving their starts after spotting the visitors to three-goal leads, and they showed signs of rectifying their struggles early in games with a better opening frame on Wednesday. But it was the six-minute stretch of the second period where Edmonton had its struggles.
"I think if you're looking at the game last night, to me, it came down to about five or six minutes in that second period where we probably could have checked a little bit better and could have made a few better decisions," Woodcroft said.
"It's the errors within our control that we think we can do a better job at as we move forward. You never know when the most important minute of a game is going to be, so it's important to make sure that you're alert and on your toes at all times."

A total of 48 shots, including 25 in the final period, weren't enough for the Blue & Orange to get by a hot goaltender in Eric Comrie after Tage Thompson and JJ Peterka capitalized on some Oilers errors early in the middle frame.
The Oilers may have dropped the decision to Buffalo, but it wasn't from a lack of trying.
"I thought we started well," forward Evander Kane said. "We came out of the first period 1-1, but I thought it could have been 5-1. Then, we have a lull in the second period with some mistakes that are on our stick and we're chasing the game the rest of the night. Obviously, their goalie played well, but we've got to find a way to get a lead."
"We were funnelling a lot of pucks to the net," defenceman Cody Ceci added. "We had a lot of chances, but couldn't get them to go. (Comrie) played outstanding and hats off to him, but I think we've just got to bear down a little bit more and finish those chances."
In a game where the Oilers didn't fail to generate their fair share of opportunities against a locked-in netminder that deserves credit for his performance, bearing down on their chances was a contributor to their defeat.
"You can finish," Kane said as to how the Oilers could've made their 25 third-period shots against the Sabres matter more. "The first period we had six or seven Grade-A opportunities, and in the second period, we probably had five or six Grade-A opportunities. In the third, same story, so we're getting our chances which is a good sign that we're doing some good things. That finish will come.
"We expect to win every time we step on the ice. Like I said, we got off to a good start, but we couldn't get that next goal. We've just got to continue to push and I think when we do that, we obviously are able to control the game like we did in that third period especially. We just got to find a way to capitalize."

Wednesday's practice saw the Oilers work in close quarters to hone in some of that sharpness around the net, including a 3-on-3 drill in the centre-ice circle centred around quick passes through traffic leading to quick chances.
"In terms of personal confidence for converting different types of opportunities, I think it's earned," Woodcroft said. "I think you feel good about your shot in practice. You find yourself in rehearsed moments and you work at it so that when the moment presents itself in a game, you feel ready to convert. Today we did a lot of small-area skill stuff that I thought might help in that regard."
"Certainly, we can be sharper and bear down. What does that mean? That means being ready to capitalize when the puck's on your tape."
As a team, Woodcroft doesn't see goalscoring as an area the Oilers are going to struggle in this season. Defending as a team through tighter checking over the course of an entire 60-minute game is at the forefront of their drive to improve, and the message was preached at practice on Wednesday
"I would say we scored ten goals and three games," he said. "That should be more than enough to have the success that we want to have, so I'm not worried about our team's offensive output. I think there are going to be nights like that when you maybe run into a hot goaltender.
"We were putting a little bit more attention to those errors that we think we can clean up to keep more goals out of our net than worrying about what we're putting in the other net."

The bench boss didn't have an update to provide on Dylan Holloway, who took a hard hit from defenceman Ilya Lyubushkin early in the second period and didn't return to the game.
The 21-year-old didn't participate in practice, but Woodcroft did mention he'd seen Holloway around the dressing room this morning in good spirits, albeit with a fresh cut on his nose, and that there'd be an update on his status Thursday after Edmonton's morning skate before the Oilers face the Carolina Hurricanes.
Get all of the day's written and video content below:
WRITTEN

VIDEO
- RAW | Coach Jay Woodcroft - RAW | Evander Kane - RAW | Cody Ceci - OILERS TODAY | Post-Game vs. BUF - HIGHLIGHTS | BUF 4, EDM 2 - POST-RAW | Coach Jay Woodcroft - Ryan Nugent-Hopkins](https://www.nhl.com/oilers/video/post-raw--nugent-hopkins/t-277437406/c-13224425) - Connor McDavid](https://www.nhl.com/oilers/video/post-raw--mcdavid-101822/t-277437406/c-13224374) - Darnell Nurse](https://www.nhl.com/oilers/video/post-raw--nurse-101822/t-277437406/c-13224386)