The Oilers held an optional skate on Wednesday morning after a fast and efficient practice the previous afternoon, where tactics and meetings were traded for getting the players activated physically on the ice and keeping them in the right headspace to repeat the feat they accomplished in Game 1 .
“A very important part of the game is getting guys prepared to play, and balancing how much practice time you have with how much you rest,” Knoblauch said. “And yesterday, we decided we would have a full-team skate. This morning was an optional skate. When things are going well, you probably want to keep into that routine, but it’s easier said than done because now there are travel days. We’re traveling tomorrow, which makes it more difficult to have that practice.”
“We want the guys on the ice either the day before or in the morning, and also, just leaving it up to the players how much ice time they feel they need.”
Leon Draisaitl touted the game-by-game and day-to-day approach for the group, and how each game presents new challenges when it comes to trying to build on a terrific start to the 2024 Playoffs. Efforts like Mondays are a great start, but not the finished product as the Oilers look to build on their game early in the postseason.
“I don’t know if there’s a different feeling. You kind of take it game by game in the playoffs, right? But it’s definitely a good start for us,” he said. “I thought we played well for the most part – a couple of unlucky bounces – but I think if we find a way to continuously bring efforts like that and play the way that we did, you know, we give ourselves a good chance at winning hockey games and
“It’s nice to get off to a good start, but our minds are on Game 2 now.”
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