"You always complain when you're on the other end of it being on the back-to-back and the team's waiting for you, right?" forward Zach Hyman said. "So I think the rare time when you are the team waiting, you have to take advantage of it and get on them early. But obviously, they're coming off an emotional win, a comeback win for them, so they're going to be excited."
"December has been one of our busiest months," Woodcroft added. "I think we've done a good job managing energy reservoirs. In the end, our focus is on us tonight. Our focus is on building on the game we had in Dallas. Our focus is on making sure we're playing towards an identity that continues to show."
Warren Foegele scored the game-winning goal in Wednesday's win to mark a positive return to the lineup for the Markham, ON product, who notched his fourth of the season on a new-look second line with Leon Draisaitl and Kailer Yamamoto.
"Yeah, it was huge," Foegele said. "I think just confidence-wise, it wasn't fun sitting out. Any way you can contribute, especially on the stat sheet, it feels good and it feels better to get the win. We needed those points, and we have a big one tonight."
Ryan McLeod centred the fourth line at Friday's morning skate and was activated off Injured Reserve in the afternoon, meaning the 23-year-old will be the next Oiler to come back from injury and try to have an immediate impact after missing 13 games with a lower-body injury.
"He's a big part of our team," Foegele said of his teammate. "He transports the puck so well and he uses his speed to bring defenders with him. It's exciting to have him back and he's a big part of this locker room too, so guys are excited that he's back."
LINE 'EM UP
The challenge of facing the Stars and having more players starting to return to the lineup for the Oilers on Wednesday led to a lineup shuffle in Dallas that immediately paid dividends.
With Foegele back to the fold, Woodcroft returned the spine of Edmonton's top nine to Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins down the middle to carry their own lines with some new winger combinations.
It proved to be the right decision when Foegele linked up with Draisaitl on the game-winner, sniping one over netminder Jake Oettinger's right shoulder in the third period as a flex for the Oilers newly-assembled lines.
"Yeah, I thought all lines were going," Foegele said. "Were in a good rhythm, and it's hard to defend when we kind of spread our big dogs, right? Because each line kind of has someone with a big skill set. "I thought we just played really hard as a group and were hard to play against."