Home cooking is always better than life on the road, and for the Edmonton Oilers, they’re back in their own barn as they look to re-ignite their first round series against the Los Angeles Kings.
They’ll look to do so with Calvin Pickard between the pipes starting down a 2-0 series deficit after the club failed to mount a successful comeback in Game 1, and after they completely collapsed in Game 2.
But now, with the series shifting home, the Oilers will look to do what the St. Louis Blues did Thursday night.
“There’s a lot of emotion, obviously,” said defenceman Darnell Nurse of playing in front of their home crowd. “Our building has been known to bring out a real out atmosphere, a real loud atmosphere, especially when the playoffs roll around. It’s exciting for all of us to come out and play in front of the home crowd.”
Oilers defenceman Brett Kulak, meanwhile, sees the team getting a boost tonight.
“That’s huge and exciting for us, and that’s going to give us a huge boost for sure,” Kulak said Thursday. “It’s something we look forward to, and the fans in Edmonton definitely go to another level in the playoffs.”
The good news for the Oilers is that home ice has been a strength of theirs in the playoffs over the last number of years.
In the past four seasons, they’ve gone 15-11 at Rogers Place, outscoring opposing teams 103-76. Against the Kings? A 6-4 record, outscoring them 43-30.
In Captain Connor McDavid’s eyes, the Oilers need to take care of their own game.
“They play a stingy game, wait for you to make your mistake,” he said. “They capitalized on the penalty kill a lot too. You don’t give them that, it should eliminate a lot of the things we’ve given them. A lot of it is on us. We got to figure out a way to not make the big mistake.”
It will be another new look lineup for the Oilers on Friday night, as Zach Hyman slides up the lineup to join McDavid and Leon Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins centres Vasily Podkolzin and Viktor Arvidsson on the second line.
And when it comes to the goaltending change, Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch is hopeful it can spark the club.
“I believe our team would treat this the same, whether Stu is in net or Picks,” he said. “We’re coming back home and we’re down two, there should be a lot of desperation, no matter who our goaltender is.
“But I think we just need a big performance, some big saves at key times, and obviously, being down 2-0 is only on our goaltender. It’s on a team thing, and I don’t think our mentality changes whoever is starting tonight.”
Zach Laing is Oilersnation’s associate editor, senior columnist, and The Nation Network’s news director. He also makes up one-half of the DFO DFS Report. He can be followed on Twitter, currently known as X, at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach.laing@bettercollective.com.
