The Oilers are looking to blend their previous two performances together after following up a 1-0 loss to the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday with a nine-goal explosion in a 9-4 win over the Seattle Kraken on Thursday – their second win over their Pacific Division rivals in the last week.
Coach Knoblauch thought Thursday's performance was a deserved result for the Oilers, given how well they'd played overall in their previous five games, after watching his players come out with a commitment to play the right way that started with proper defending.
The offence was always going to come, and it arrived in a big way against the Kraken.
"It was nice to see our guys get rewarded, because I think overall, we've been playing pretty well defensively," Knoblauch said. "Our compete, our attention detail has been better. As good as that is, sometimes you play a really good game, and you just can't score. I thought that's what happened against Minnesota, where their goalie played really well, or we just didn't bear down and finish the opportunities.
But we have to be careful that we can't expect to score 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 goals to win hockey games. Three should be enough to score or win a hockey game, and that's kind of the mentality; if we can keep them to two, we should be able to win. So, from the coach's perspective, we're always thinking more about defence, and the players' perspective, they're thinking more about offence. So you gotta have a balance."
