BLOG: Oilers staying confident despite their Game 1 defeat

EDMONTON, AB - With the Edmonton Oilers in a position of strength leading 2-0 through 40 minutes during Game 1, the Los Angeles Kings came out determined for the third period.
Just two minutes away from a series-opening victory, defenceman Evan Bouchard's stick ran up the body of opposing forward Trevor Moore, setting up a last-gasp 6-on-4 opportunity for the visitors to equalize.
With 17 seconds on the clock, the puck squeaked through the five-hole of Skinner and was tapped in by Anze Kopitar to force overtime, where the Oilers had the upper hand in the first nine minutes until Vincent Desharnais' tripping penalty led to Alex Iafallo completing the 4-3 comeback victory for a 1-0 series advantage in favour of the Kings.
"In the moment, it's frustrating," Zach Hyman said. "You have control over the game the whole way through. I thought we played really well and then it slipped away there. So in the moment, really frustrating."
These are the ebbs and flows of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and they are frequent.
"That's playoff hockey, isn't it?" Head Coach Jay Woodcroft said.

For the Oilers, Tuesday's team meeting and optional skate at Rogers Place was about regrouping and keeping their picture focused on the next game after liking much of their game on Monday before the script flipped on them in the final period when penalties started to pile up.
"I think the one word I would use to describe our team is that we're a resilient group, and for us, things happen," Woodcroft said. "That game yesterday, we felt really good about a lot of that game yesterday, but in the end, we didn't come away with the tick on the board."
"We used today to get better, we felt good about today, and we're getting ready for tomorrow."
Despite the result, the Oilers players and coaches who experienced the defeat feel confident they put in a strong enough performance to come away with the club's first Game 1 victory at home since 1990. But in a league like the NHL against a Kings team that earned own their post-season spot and will experience good moments over the 60 minutes, nothing is guaranteed -- especially when penalties become a problem for your team.

"By no means do I think that we were turning the puck over left, right and center giving them grade-A after grade-A," McDavid said. "They make a play to make it 2-1, and like I said, kind of a scrambled face-off play. Then they score with 17 seconds left on a 6-on-4, so kind of weird plays."
"I thought we were the better team 5-on-5, but those special team situations on the power play and penalty kill I thought could use some work."
McDavid added: "Sometimes when you're holding a lead, you have a tendency to sit back a little bit more. I thought we did that a little too much and allowed them to start to feel good. But still, I thought we checked well. Obviously, we took too many penalties. I don't think anyone's surprised to hear that. You can't take six penalties in a playoff game."
The Oilers entered the final frame in full control up a pair of goals, but a quick back-hand strike from Adrian Kempe in the first minute put Edmonton on the defensive.
"I think the first couple of minutes of the third period are really big just to kind of hold it down and continue the momentum," McDavid said. "Obviously giving one up there early on is not ideal, but I still thought we did a good job recovering."

McDavid mentioned in his Tuesday morning media availability that during the second period before the intermission, they had a few opportunities to put another past the Kings as they sat back on their heels.
"I thought we had a lot of good looks to make it 3-0 throughout the second period. We had a lot of good looks, and if it becomes 3-0, it's maybe a different game," he said. "But I thought their goalie stood in there and made some good saves, but that being said, if you can find a way to make it 3-0, that'd be great."
The Oilers have been in this position before.
The 4-3 overtime win on Monday in favour of the Kings follows the same template as last year's first-round meeting between these two sides, and the players are utilizing their experience to stay level-headed and return for Game 2 on Wednesday night prepared to perform for the full 60 minutes.
"The nice thing about playoff hockey is you can get right back at it and you've got to be able to temper emotions and temper the roller coaster," Hyman said. "We've had experience losing Game 1's and being able to come back, so I think we're excited about the opportunity tomorrow."

Just like it was for the Oilers in the regular season, you've got to keep your picture small, learn from your mistakes and put them into practice to come out stronger for the next game.
"I think one of the things that we've tried to do for the last year-and-a-half is just focus on the day and not look too far ahead; don't spend too much time worrying about things that have already happened and try to learn the lessons of yesterday to help set you up for tomorrow," Woodcroft said.
"I think what we have in that dressing room is, number one, a great leadership group and a team that's at the life stage that they're at and understands that in the playoffs, things happen sometimes and you have to have a short memory, whether you win the game or whether you don't win the game.
"It's all about getting better each and every day, raising your competitive level from one game to the next and raising your execution level from one game to the next."