BLOG: Lines, updates and content from Thursday's practice in Toronto

TORONTO, ON - The Oilers skated at Scotiabank Arena Thursday after defeating the Toronto Maple Leafs in a defensive 3-1 win Wednesday.
Get lines, updates and post-practice commentary below.

Coach Dave Tippett on James Neal's potential to join the lineup Friday:

"He's a possibility for tomorrow. He's put some good work in. We wanted to get him through a full team practice. He's been skating hard but this is our first full-team practice in about 10 days. We wanted to see him get through a practice. We'll see where he is in the morning and whether he can be an option for us."

Tippett on playing better defensively:

"If we wanted to just entertain the fans, we might as well just have a shootout and call it by who wins and who loses. We don't want a shootout. We want to win a hockey game. Those hockey games that are tight like that are closer to playoff-style games than they are the 8-7 games. I'll take 2-1 games all day as long as we're winning.

Tippett on the emphasis of playing well at even strength:

"That was the focus coming into the year. We have to be a better defending team. For the most part, we've done it. There have been some areas where I think we've been loose. Some of that is making some mistakes, some of that is not putting enough 'oomph' into getting the defending job done where you're getting beat 1-on-1. If we continue to improve on that, we'll give ourselves a better chance to win.
"The 5-on-5 play is something we've really pounded on from Day 1 at Camp. There have been some positive signs but still lots of room for improvement. If we keep moving in the right direction, I think we'll become a better team."

Tippett on the McDavid-Matthews matchup:

"They're both superior athletes that want to win. You look at it, both players played hard. They played head-to-head against each other. They both want to win. They both want to make it hard on each other to score. That's why it's a tight game.
"I know they're good friends. I saw them both skating down in Arizona before we came back. They were having fun on the ice and they were playing together. But they get in here and they both want to win. They want to lead their teams to victory. They know they have to play well offensively but they have to play well defensively, too.
"You call it a 'rivalry' I just call it really good players competing hard against each other to try to win for their team. I think you're going to see great matchups because of the format this year."

Devin Shore on preparing for Toronto's push-back:

"It kind of brings you back to my college days where you play a weekend series against the same team. There won't be any secrets out there. When you win or lose that first game, you want to get points out of the series. We expect a big push-back from them and it's up to us to respond."