More simple victories like in D.C. will be critical to the Oilers improving their 6-12-1 record and captain Connor McDavid, along with the rest of the locker room, believe it’s a performance that’s replicable heading into a stretch of eight of their next nine games at Rogers Place.
“It was a simple game. We played in straight lines,” McDavid said. “We were a little bit more predictable for each other kind of just advancing the puck and putting it in their zone and letting our forecheck go to work. I thought it was a pretty simple recipe and one that we can roll over.”
The Oilers welcome the Ducks to Rogers Place on Sunday who’ve lost their last five games, getting outscored 22-9 after a bright start from the young team in the Pacific Division that now owns a record of 9-11-0.
Anaheim has lost six of their last seven meetings with Edmonton but is one of the teams they need to leap in the standings as they try to build some consistency in their game, However, their offence is a lot more potent than in recent seasons with a sophomore Mason McTavish, who has 10 goals and 21 points in 20 games for the Ducks this year, and another up-and-coming young player in 2023 second-overall pick Leo Carlsson, who's registered nine points (6G, 3A) through 14 games.
"You peek at the standings and you keep an eye on things, our focus is tomorrow," Kulak said. "They're a lot different team than we've seen the past couple of years and we know that they're going to bring a good game in here and we've got to be ready.
"We can't think about what's going to happen or where we're going to be in game 82," Knoblauch added. "We've just got to look at where we are right now. If you look long-term, it just looks too daunting and it's too big of a task. You look at it right now and you just think about winning your next game."
