It was by no means a masterpiece, but it's what was required to win on that night in the Stanley Cup Playoffs where it's notoriously difficult to do so, and Wednesday night will be no different for the Oilers with the opportunity to move on to the Second Round at the expense of LA once again.
“In the playoffs, a win is a win. You take them any way you get them,” McDavid said. “Winning 1-0 or 6-3, there’s really no difference. I thought LA played a really good game, but I thought we played a really smart, mature, patient game.”
“Intensity, focus and execution of details,” Head Coach Kris Knoblauch said. “I don’t think we want to be playing passive. We want to get at it and I think the more we slow things down, it just doesn't work out for us. We want to be playing fast and tense, but being able to use our skills, I think that's probably the biggest thing.”
Edmonton is putting extra emphasis on their starts that’ve helped them gain early traction on the Kings this series, with the Oilers holding a 10-1 advantage over LA – both in the regular season and postseason – in games where they score the first goal.
“Starts are big. Starts are always big,” McDavid said. “We've said that, especially against LA in the series, just with how they play and stuff, so we want to come out of the gates and feed off the crowd, feed off the energy of our building and put them on their heels in the first 10 minutes.”
With Los Angeles having their backs against the wall, McDavid doesn't foresee any reason why Edmonton can't turn that desperation right back on their opponents.
"They're going to be a desperate group, but we're desperate to close up the series," he said. "We're excited about the opportunity here on home ice and excited to play. It's been a couple of days off, so there shouldn't be any reason for us to not come out of the gates well."