NASHVILLE, TN -It'll be a quick turnaround for the Oilers.
The Oilers head to Nashville after a close-knit affair against the Minnesota Wild, which was dropped to the home side by a 2-1 score. The team is probably ready to play someone else after three games in 12 days against Twin City team.
The familiarity between the two clubs was pretty apparent on Monday as both sides had the answers to the other defensively for the majority of the evening - with the two combining for 31 less shots than their previous matchup last Friday.
"It's a little bit of a chess match out there in terms of the tactics and whatnot. I just thought both teams competed hard defensively. We had some chances," Head coach Jay Woodcroft said after the game. "I thought what ended up costing us there was probably a six, seven-minute span in the second period where we took a few penalties, we turned some pucks over, and that meant more time in zone than we wanted to have. In the end, as I said, it came down to a one five-on-five goal against that we feel we could have handled better. We certainly had enough time to get the equalizer. We just couldn't find it tonight on a good goaltender and against a good team."
Oilers defenceman Darnell Nurse, who finished the game with four shots, two hits, and a blocked shot in his 23:21 of ice time, was a little more succinct with his analysis of the game.
"Could be that (the familiarity). I think both teams had an emphasis on not giving up much," Nurse said. "Yeah, tight checking 2-1 game. There were chances both ways."
