Great response from the Oilers tonight. Final score: 6-1.

On the game: “I was feeling good. I think as a group we were pretty motivated after last game. We wanted to come out hard off the start and we came out rollin’.”

On what quality comes to mind when he thinks of the Oilers’ room after tonight’s game: “Just resilient. Everyone was pretty frustrated and everyone came out pretty motivated. It was good to see a response and it’s a good test down the stretch for us.”

On if the Gordie Howe hattrick ever crossed his mind: “(laughs) no, not tonight.”

On being close to an actual hat trick: “I think we were just trying to build good habits at the end of the game. It was a good test for us up 5-1 to kind of stick with it. I had a couple chances, but I wasn’t going too far out of my way to try and get one.”

On if the Oilers will be joking with Evander Kane, who took four penalties in four shifts tonight: “I think so yeah (laughs). I think it will be.”

On the Oilers’ response after Saturday: “It was really important that we learned a lesson from the last game. We really wanted to bounce back. It was an embarrassing game Saturday and I think we got exactly the result that we needed (tonight). Not just the result, but the way how we played. We didn’t give up odd-man rushes and we played well. I think that’s the most important thing with the two points.”

On not facing much high-danger chances, if he sensed the team wanted to tighten up defensively: “Yes, I think that’s the obvious reaction when you give up nine goals. You need to tighten up a little bit and we reacted really well and played a tight game like you said. They only had a couple good chances in the game. It’s a good thing we have to keep in our mind and in our mindset going forward.”

On how he felt he bounced back: “Yeah, of course. Every time when you face something like that you want to go as soon as possible and wash your face after that kind of loss. It’s a good bounce back for the whole team, not just me.”

On what quality comes to mind when he thinks of the Oilers’ room after tonight’s game: “Just resilient. Everyone was pretty frustrated and everyone came out pretty motivated. It was good to see a response and it’s a good test down the stretch for us.”

On McLeod’s game: “He brings a lot to the table. He can play in every situation. PK, PP and his skating ability is pretty amazing at that age. He’s flying out there. Also really good locker room player.”

On the game: “I thought it was a good effort by our team. It was a pretty business-like mindset heading into the game and we did what we had to do to walk away with two points. It was a good win for our team.”

On McLeod: “I’ve had a front-row seat to Ryan’s development over the last three and a half years or so. I’ve seen him score lots of goals over that time and we charged him today with helming his own line, driving his own line, and he did a heckuva job on that line with Foegele and Ryan. I thought they gave us good minutes not only 5×5 but powerplay for Ryan (McLeod) and penalty kill for McLeod and Derek Ryan.”

On if McLeod is a utility knife with play at wing, or centre: “Yeah, and I think for a young player at his position in the league he’s figuring out what his capabilities are and what he needs to work on. I think it’s a compliment when some of our best players want to play with him. Like I said, today he drove his own line and they were a good line for us tonight.”

On McLeod’s speed and where he sees him fit long term: “I think when he’s transporting the puck through the neutral zone and you can do that as a winger as well. Like I said I think when you’re putting good players together they find a way to get the job done. When he’s in the middle, I think he seems to touch the puck a little more. He’s someone that I think gets a little juice when he’s carrying the puck through the neutral zone and tonight, he did it 5×5, also on the powerplay as well. Good game by Ryan.”

On Puljujarvi’s game: “Yeah, i liked the chemistry of that line tonight. I thought he did a real nice job — I told him on the bench — of working into a high support position in the offensive zone. He picked off a few passes, including that opening goal. It happened a few other times during the game. I thought he was involved physically, playing straight lines, went hard to the net, played a little bit on the powerplay, had some chances there. He was a good player for us tonight.”

On what quality comes to mind in accessing the Oilers’ response: “I mean, nobody was happy with the result the other night. We had a day off to think about it, stew about it, and this morning we had some hard meetings — players were challenged and they responded. It’s a full credit to the players in that dressing room for honestly looking at their own personal games, at their team game, and trying to come up with a recipe that is going to serve us well down the stretch here. That’s not on the coaching staff, that’s the players in the dressing room who found a way to get it done. Now we’re looking for a measure of consistency down the stretch.”

On Koskinen: “I thought Mikko was excellent tonight. I don’t think the score is an accurate of the game he played in terms of the quality of some of the chances he made saves on. That one in the second period was a five-alarm save and he should feel real good about his personal game tonight as well as our team game tonight.”

On how he felt the players responded after digging in following the Calgary game: “Sometimes, you might not see it but behind closed doors sometimes there are pointed meetings either with individuals or with the team in general. I think the attitude or the mindset that we brought in following that Calgary game was to use it as a growth opportunity that presented itself. We charged ourselves with seeing things clearly, not sweeping anything under the rug being direct with what we wanted to see, and at the end of the day our players responded. They’re the ones who should feel good about themselves with what they threw down tonight.”

On McLeod centring his own line as an opportunity for him to grab onto: “Yeah, I think what we’ve said to our players ‘it doesn’t matter where you are in the lineup, there’s room for contribution and room for greatness from everybody.’. Some people we’ve asked to do a little bit more, some people we’re asking to do a little bit less but better. In the end, everybody on our team is important and their contribution is important to the cause. They’re well aware of that and that’s something we’ve wanted to establish here: that everyone is valued and everybody has a part on our team.”

On those meetings, how they were being received and if it was a precursor to tonight: “Well, I believe our players want to win. I believe they want to continue to establish an identity that’s going to lend a team to find ways to win when it counts. I think our players are driven by that. Were we disappointed with the way that game ended Saturday night? Yeah, everybody was. To a man, we all felt we could be better. But at the end of the day, that game was worth two points. The same way today’s game is worth two points. The mindset that we’ve tried to engrain in this group right off the bat when Dave Manson and I came up from Bakersfield was we’re going to take care of the day’s business. Are you going to have good days? You’re going to have some good days. Are you going to have some tough days? Yeah, you’re going to have some tough days. But I think if you have that mindset that you did what needs to be done on that day, sometimes the results just take care of themselves. Following that came we turned in in Calgary, what was required were some of those hard meetings. And as I said, our players responded. Full credit goes to our players.”

On the Kane penalties: “The penalties were called. I’m not going to get up here and dispute the penalties that were called. Obviously, Evander Kane is an important player for us. We want him on the ice as much as possible.”

On Todd Mclellan coaching his 1000th game tonight, seeing him in 1001 in a race for second in the pacific: “Todd is somebody who has had a profound impact on me not just as a young coach but as a young person. I’ve used the term that he taught me a lot of things by the simple eloquence of his example. He has a great family and to watch them celebrate this together, 1000 games, what an achievement. I think I read today only 31 coaches have ever done that. He’s someone who is at the top of his craft and there’s a reason he got to coach that many games.”

On if Ryan McLeod’s speed catches people off guard: “Yeah, it’s dynamic. It’s not Connor’s level of speed, but it’s a very high-level speed. The other thing is what has grown with him over the last couple of years is his puck confidence while at top speed. He doesn’t necessarily need to slow down to pick his way through the neutral zone or pick his way through checks. He has elite speed and when he’s using it, it puts teams on the back foot.”

On McLeod’s second goal: “I’ve seen that goal many times before in the American hockey league from Ryan McLeod.”