BLOG: Oilers ready for a roaring Rogers Place

DENVER, CO - The Avalanche held serve at home and now the Oilers are looking to do the same.
The flight back from Denver won't be a joyous one after a pair of defeats against the Avalanche, but there is still a sense of anticipation knowing the Rogers Place crowd awaits them for a pair of crucial Western Conference Final games in Edmonton.
"We're down two, heading back to a rink that we love playing in. You guys have seen how excited the city and people in Edmonton are," Tyson Barrie said in his post-game press conference. "We'll be ready to put forth our best effort and bounce back in front of a crazy building. We're certainly not counting ourselves out of this one."
"We're excited to get back home and feed off the crowd and listen to the atmosphere," Ryan Nugent-Hopkins said. "Obviously our focus is on Game 3 at home. We have an opportunity to step up right now. We didn't get a win in Denver like we wanted but we have a great opportunity to head back home, feed off the fans, and get this thing going."

The noise levels at Rogers Place have been defeaning so far in the post-season. The full throat of the Blue & Orange fans has frequently cracked the 120-decibel mark - a level similar to the sound of thunder or a plane taking off. The Oilers players have been able to channel that energy and propel them towards some of their best performances in the post-season.
Edmonton is currently 4-2 in the friendly confines of Rogers Arena during this playoff run and has outscored their opponents 24-13 in the process. The rink has been the set piece of some masterful Oilers victories this post-season, including the 6-0 Game 2 rebound win over Los Angeles and their back-to-back wins over Calgary, which pushed their Alberta rival to the brink.
The Oilers will need to harness that electricity once again and use it to bring out the best in the group. The players know that the series and their Stanley Cup aspirations are essentially on the line over the next two games.
"I think we haven't shown our best yet and that is encouraging, but we have to make sure it's coming soon," Leon Draisaitl said. "Obviously not the situation we wanted to be in after two games, but that's the way it is. We can't dwell on it, we have to be better, and we have to adjust and make sure we come out good at home."

Despite an elite opponent and a daunting deficit facing the Oilers, there is no panic in the locker room. In a season rife with so many ups and downs, the steady spectre of adversity has been the a singular constant.
"We can look right back to being down 3-2 in LA and going down there and getting that win," Nugent-Hopkins said. "But during the season we had a stretch there where we were 2-14, we had covid stuff going on, we had a ton of injuries, and we were out of a playoff spot. We found a way to battle back and stay resilient as a full group and push ourselves into a good playoff spot. We've definitely gone through some adversity and the way we've responded has been one of our best attributes this season."
The Oilers finished the regular season with a 28-12-1 record at Rogers Place during the regular season which, in spite of their mid-season lull, was good for the third-most wins in the Western Conference. They will need three more over the next week to earn the chance to compete for hockey's ultimate prize.
"We've done it all year. We've faced a lot of adversity all year, in the playoffs and every round pretty much so far. I believe in our group," Draisaitl said. "We've got to start with one game tomorrow, it's obviously a big one. Start it at home, get the crowd behind us and that way we'll be right back in it."