BLOG: Oilers focused on rest before returning to work ahead of Game 6

EDMONTON, AB - It's been an emotionally and physically-demanding series.
"I think in the first round of the playoffs, there's an energy to the first round all across the National Hockey League," Head Coach Jay Woodcroft said. "I think the big thing is that our team has been preparing for a very difficult first round."
On Wednesday, the Edmonton Oilers put their focus on rest and recharging from the rigours of their first five games against Los Angeles Kings at Crypto.com Arena on Saturday after pulling ahead 3-2 in the series with a 6-3 victory in Game 5 at Rogers Place.
"It's an opportunity for us to rest and recuperate today, and then, we're going to head into a practice day tomorrow and we're going to look to get better," Head Coach Jay Woodcroft said from the podium inside the Oilers Hall of Fame Room.
"Tomorrow's challenge is going on the ice and working at a piece of our game that we think needs to improve a little bit, and we have to continue to improve. That's kind of where we're at."
The Oilers have three full days in between Tuesday's Game 5 victory and their opportunity to end the series in Los Angeles on Saturday -- the time of which is still yet to be determined based on the results of different series around the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
"Our schedule is what the schedule is, and one team is going to handle it better," Woodcroft said. "It's our aspiration to be the team that handles it better… I think it comes down to making sure we're doing our work properly, making sure that we see things clearly and making sure that we get the most out of each day before us here as we head into Game 6."
The scheduling quirk opened up an avenue for Woodcroft and his coaching staff to mix in some extra time away from the rink before returning to the ice for practices on Thursday and Friday to better prepare for what will be a charged-up Game 6 in Los Angeles this weekend with the Kings on the verge of elimination.
"Today was exactly what we were talking about. It was a rest and recovery day for us," Woodcroft added. "It's been an intense week-and-a-half here with the preparation that led to the beginning of the series and then through the first five games with all the travel and whatnot."

The onus was on the Kings in last year's Stanley Cup Playoffs to close out the Oilers on home ice up 3-2 in their first-round meeting, but now, the challenge of advancing from a position of strength this time around falls to Edmonton on the road in a tough building that's already seen two overtime games this series split between the two sides.
"Whomever the opponent was going to be, we tried to use the 82-game schedule to set us up to prepare ourselves," Woodcroft said. "There's still lots of work to be done here and we have a huge challenge.
"I think if you start looking at this series, we've felt we've done a lot of really good things, but it's a tight series. The other team does good things, too. Our challenge is to get better, and as I said earlier, today's challenge was to make sure we're resting and refuelling the right way."
For Woodcroft, it was far from a rest day for he and his coaches, who leave their rest for the summer months that don't involve hockey.
"Coaches never turn it off. They turn it off in the summertime," Woodcroft said. "As a coaching staff, we come in and we do our work as we would on a normal day. It's a day off for the players off the ice, but it's their day to rest and recover."
While the players might've been away from Rogers Place on Wednesday, the bench boss and his cast of coaches that include Dave Manson, Glen Gulutzan and Mark Stuart were hard at work looking to find a path to victory in Game 6 like the one they helped establish in Game 5 with a few lineup changes.

Woodcroft elevated centre Nick Bjugstad to the second line, and the results showed in the 30-year-old recording his first multi-goal playoff game and forming a strong 5-on-5 partnership with Zach Hyman and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.
Overall, Woodcroft has been satisfied with his team's consistent effort over the first five games to earn the opportunity to finish the series off on Saturday despite falling behind 2-1 after their overtime defeat in Game 3. But just as they were behind a few games earlier, it's a long series and things can change quickly if you're not steadfast in your push to improve over every passing game in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
"I thought after three games, were down 2-1 but we liked a lot of our series. But that's why it's a series and things add up over time," he said.
"So for us -- our patience, our persistence, our stick-to-itiveness -- we use the theme of continuing to hammer on the rock until it splits. It hasn't split yet, but we're looking for that fourth win, and in order to get the result that we want, we have to improve and we have to keep that mindset of hammering away on that rock."