Onto game three.

Neither game one, nor two went Edmonton’s way. They dropped game one 8-6, and fell tonight 4-0 in game two. A few tough losses indeed, but Edmonton now has to lick their wounds and head home to fight back in this series.

On what happened in the Avs’ three-goal stretch in the second: “They found a way to break through. We didn’t. They found a way to break through.”

On how the Oilers can stop themselves from spinning out: “Like Tys mentioned, they definitely feed off momentum. They find ways to compound one and turn it into three there. It’s on us to grab that. It seems like shifts after goals, either for or against, have hurt us over the last couple of games. The shift after they find a way to score right after.”

On the Oilers only getting 11 shots between the second and third: “They played a solid game. They played a good game.”

On what the Oilers need to do to dig out the 0-2 deficit they’re in: “We’ve been a real solid home team for the last little while. We love playing in front of those fans. We’ll get ourselves back in the series at home here.”

On the Oilers being unable to generate off the rush: “They got good players. They got good dmen. We haven’t had a ton of chances off the rush. We got to find a way to create off the forecheck and off ozone play. They do a lot of good things. We got to find a way to figure them out.”

On losing time and space against Colorado: “I probably haven’t been at the top of my game here. They’ve done a good job of limiting chances and stuff like that.”

On the Oilers’ first period: “I thought we played a good first. I think we got into a little penalty trouble, we did a good job killing it off. It was just a bit of a stretch in the second there. They got one, and it compounded. They got two, they got three. That’s momentum. That’s how this team rolls. We’ve got to do a better job of when they get one, we got to stop the bleeding and we can’t compound and let it spiral out of control like that for a couple minutes that it did.”

On the Oilers being unable to bounce back in game two like they have previously: “We’re down two and heading back to a rink we love playing in. You guys have seen how excited the city of Edmonton is and we’ll be ready to put forth our best effort in a big bounce back in front of a crazy building. We’re not counting ourselves out of this one we got a lot of hockey left to play.”

On the second period: “That changed the game, that five-minute lapse there. I thought we had been playing well to that point. First I thought we were playing well. Had to deal with penalties, killed them off. That should be a momentum builder for us, it was. Then there’s the five-minute lag there in the second and they got three there and shut it right down.”

On the Oilers losing battles of the middle of the ice: “They’re a good team. They play fast, they got elite skaters on the backend that are able to bring the puck out fast and move through the neutral zone pretty fast. We got to do a better job of getting to the paint, we got to do a better job of forechecking and sustaining pressure in the ozone. I don’t think we’ve done a good enough jobs at times. When we’re doing it, we’re doing it well and holding onto pucks. You can see what works, I just don’t think it’s happening enough.”

On how the Oilers can generate belief when there may not be a ton to hang their hats on: “I think we’re still a confident group. It’s still a series, right? This is how it goes. There’s momentum swings, it’s a roller coaster. They defended home ice and we have an opportunity to go back home, feed off our crowd, get the momentum back. I think we’ve done a really good job playing at home. We’ve done a really good job throughout this year when our backs have been against the wall facing adversity, pushing back. I think that this is a big opportunity to do that.”

On what the Oilers have to do to get back in the series: “You got to protect home ice. It’s huge. You got to go back home, it starts with the first one obviously. I think first game we showed we can score against these guys. We’ll get back to that, back to our game. I think that there are things we can do better obviously but I think we’re confident in our abilities, we’re confident in our structure and our system that if we maintain that and we elevate our game, I think we’ll be just fine. We haven’t gotten to the level that we want to yet. It’s not a matter of our structure, it’s a matter of doing it over and over again at an elite level.”

On what it’s like on the ice as the Avs are able to get momentum and cycle the puck: “Tonight I didn’t get caught out there, but I remember last game I got caught out there. They’ve had times where they’ve cycled through a couple line changes and hemmed us in our own zone. Anytime no matter what team you’re playing against, when you get tired your legs get heavy. If they’re able to get fresh legs on, it doesn’t matter who it is. Especially against this team they can cycle and they all get moving and get activated. The D are coming down, finding holes offensively. They do a good job of that. It’s just a matter of limiting those situations and simplifying, doing a better job as a defence to clean up our puck play in our own zone.”

On the strong first, sloppy second period: “I thought it was a really competitive first period. I thought we laid it on the line especially finding ourselves down shorthanded like you said, six minutes I think in the first period. I thought we pushed back, we generated some offence, and like you said, that little span in the second really hurt us, took the wind out of our sails. We weren’t able to generate what we’d want to generate as the game wore on.”

On the Oilers being unable to generate off the rush: “I think we’ve had some chances, not as much as we’d like. We’re in the final four, the other team does some good stuff too. But we think there’s more to be had there. We can do a better job of shooting the puck, shooting through structure. Tonight, it didn’t go our way. We’ll go back to the drawing board and we’re prepared to regroup and head home to friendly confines in Edmonton.”

On how the Oilers can be better at not allowing the avalanche to score back-to-back: “I think it starts with the shift after a goal whether we score the goal or the other team scores the goal. It’s an important shift that next shift. The ability to win the faceoff, to establish a forecheck. Then there’s just little things that go into some of the chances we gave up.”

On what he’s seeing from 97/29, other top players: “We did some things to move the chess pieces around and I wouldn’t point to one or two people, I would point to the whole team. We didn’t do enough to make it hard on the opposing goaltender. We had some chances, but not nearly enough, not at this time of year.”

On the Landeskog hit on Yamamoto, if he has an update on 56: “I thought the player was in a vulnerable position. I thought the angle of the check and the principal point of contact was the head. It’s not my call, I don’t referee the games. I’ve said this ad nauseam during the playoffs: my job is to coach, not to make the calls. I’m sure the necessary people at the league will look at that hit.”

On Darnell Nurse’s game: “He’s giving us everything he has. He’s giving us everything he has. He’s a true warrior and as a team, we can be better.”

On Nathan MacKinnon having 11 shots, what the Oilers need to do to get in his way: “I actually thought the Kadri line was the one that was more productive for them. That’s not taking anything away from 29’s shot on net total. I’d be interested to see how many of those were on the powerplay. We were short seven times.”

On if the most disturbing thing is the Oilers’ goals against in the second: “No, I think the thing that we’re worried about is we didn’t win the game tonight. As I said, we’ve come to a building on the road. We didn’t win. Now it’s on us to go home, regroup, clearly look at the things we can get better at, and go out and execute on home ice.”