<p>Now that&#8217;s a sweet, sweet <a href="https://publish.oilersnation.com/2022/05/20/recap-9-0-wrap-up-edmonton-oilers-at-calgary-flames-game-2/">La Bamba</a>.</p>
<p></p>
<p>The Oilers faced more than their fair share of adversity but fought back all night long to launch an impressive 5-3 come from behind win.</p>
<p>Onto game three&#8230;</p>
<h1>The Clips</h1>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">mike smith can&#39;t handle the point shot, and brett ritchie cleans up the rebound. 2-0 calgary. <a href="https://t.co/arXRLJgU64">pic.twitter.com/arXRLJgU64</a></p>
<p>&mdash; zach laing (@zjlaing) <a href="https://twitter.com/zjlaing/status/1527846217136209920?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 21, 2022</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">and now some more rough stuff. bouchard for cross checking, gaudreau for the dive, and lindholm for the roughing. <a href="https://t.co/cC0Oh3kn65">pic.twitter.com/cC0Oh3kn65</a></p>
<p>&mdash; zach laing (@zjlaing) <a href="https://twitter.com/zjlaing/status/1527848788223590400?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 21, 2022</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">duncan keith quiets down the calgary crowd getting the oilers on the board with this goal. flames still lead 2-1. <a href="https://t.co/hBCEd5f2KC">pic.twitter.com/hBCEd5f2KC</a></p>
<p>&mdash; zach laing (@zjlaing) <a href="https://twitter.com/zjlaing/status/1527850968166957056?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 21, 2022</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">here&#39;s another look. <a href="https://t.co/3kplNgZpDD">pic.twitter.com/3kplNgZpDD</a></p>
<p>&mdash; zach laing (@zjlaing) <a href="https://twitter.com/zjlaing/status/1527853477153546246?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 21, 2022</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">i&#39;m no lip reading expert, but i&#39;m pretty sure jay woodcroft just dropped a &quot;you&#39;re fucking chicken shit&quot; after the oilers got called for too many men. <a href="https://t.co/jSlmZiuVZo">pic.twitter.com/jSlmZiuVZo</a></p>
<p>&mdash; zach laing (@zjlaing) <a href="https://twitter.com/zjlaing/status/1527860303345594368?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 21, 2022</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">with no stick, darnell nurse isn&#39;t able to do much as tyler toffoli scores on the powerplay to make it 3-1. <a href="https://t.co/kWwsMJtufb">pic.twitter.com/kWwsMJtufb</a></p>
<p>&mdash; zach laing (@zjlaing) <a href="https://twitter.com/zjlaing/status/1527860723572912128?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 21, 2022</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">CONNOR MCDAVID MAGIC! 🤯🤯🤯 <a href="https://t.co/Xs17OZeZZ3">pic.twitter.com/Xs17OZeZZ3</a></p>
<p>&mdash; zach laing (@zjlaing) <a href="https://twitter.com/zjlaing/status/1527862079260020736?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 21, 2022</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">jesse puljujarvi with a great pass to zach hyman, who nearly ties the game up. <a href="https://t.co/ehbftdKgpE">pic.twitter.com/ehbftdKgpE</a></p>
<p>&mdash; zach laing (@zjlaing) <a href="https://twitter.com/zjlaing/status/1527865826803474432?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 21, 2022</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">and now evan bouchard lets loose a bomb on the powerplay and the oilers tie it up at 3! <a href="https://t.co/TUW6ZdkZxX">pic.twitter.com/TUW6ZdkZxX</a></p>
<p>&mdash; zach laing (@zjlaing) <a href="https://twitter.com/zjlaing/status/1527868217204518912?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 21, 2022</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">oilers and flames get into a scrum after the tying goal. zadorov and draisaitl skate off together, with the former giving the latter a few taps on the ankle. <a href="https://t.co/PuMBCjRkex">pic.twitter.com/PuMBCjRkex</a></p>
<p>&mdash; zach laing (@zjlaing) <a href="https://twitter.com/zjlaing/status/1527869182552858624?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 21, 2022</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">blake coleman crashes hard into mike smith, and surprise surprise — we have another scrum. <a href="https://t.co/16GLGqjdmd">pic.twitter.com/16GLGqjdmd</a></p>
<p>&mdash; zach laing (@zjlaing) <a href="https://twitter.com/zjlaing/status/1527870668112506881?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 21, 2022</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">connor mcdavid with some more great work in the offensive zone. <a href="https://t.co/70suAKlsng">pic.twitter.com/70suAKlsng</a></p>
<p>&mdash; zach laing (@zjlaing) <a href="https://twitter.com/zjlaing/status/1527876377625579525?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 21, 2022</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
<p lang="en" dir="ltr">leon draisaitl with a breakaway goal and the oilers take a 5-3 lead! <a href="https://t.co/qr7NmGQ2K4">pic.twitter.com/qr7NmGQ2K4</a></p>
<p>&mdash; zach laing (@zjlaing) <a href="https://twitter.com/zjlaing/status/1527882398934806528?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 21, 2022</a></p></blockquote>
<p><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></p>
<h1>The Quotes</h1>
<h2><strong>Zach Hyman</strong></h2>
<p>On McDavid: &#8220;He&#8217;s the best player in the world. He&#8217;s pushing himself and I&#8217;ve said it before. When you&#8217;re the best, it&#8217;s easy to be comfortable because guys are chasing you, but it&#8217;s hard to keep pushing, keep challenging yourself. He&#8217;s a guy who wants to win more than anybody, so you&#8217;re seeing him push himself, push our team, and those are the results.&#8221;</p>
<p>On what the Oilers can do if McDavid keeps it up: &#8220;Like I said, you have to stay off the rollercoaster. When you win a game, you&#8217;re feeling great. When you lose a game, you&#8217;re feeling terrible. It&#8217;s easier to prepare when you lose, because you don&#8217;t want to have that feeling. When you win, you got to reset and have that hunger that you don&#8217;t want to lose. I think for us, and for Connor, he just stays even keel. Nothing phases him. He&#8217;s just Connor. He&#8217;s humble and he goes about his day.&#8221;</p>
<p>On the ups and downs of the game: &#8220;My stick broke on the first goal, got a goal called back, leo got a goal called back. They got one iffy one called back too. You just got to keep working. All that matters is you get the win, right? I think we just did a good job battling. We were down two goals early in the second off a too many men penalty, then just scored.&#8221;</p>
<p>On Duncan Keith&#8217;s game: &#8220;Just unphased. That&#8217;s a guy when you talk about somebody who has seen it all, has done it all. Whatever defencemen award you want to say he&#8217;s won it, and he&#8217;s a future hall of famer and that&#8217;s a guy that was brought in I think to calm the group in times that aren&#8217;t going well. I think he&#8217;s a big voice in that locker room in settling us down. Then obviously stepping up today. Huge goal, just making plays, being strong defensively. He&#8217;s got a lot to give.&#8221;</p>
<p>On Leon&#8217;s leg, his ability to still produce: &#8220;He&#8217;s an elite player. He&#8217;s able to score and just made a great play. That was a huge play for us, an insurance goal.&#8221;</p>
<p>On going back to Edmonton: &#8220;It&#8217;s awesome. Can&#8217;t wait to get back home. It&#8217;s going to be rocking, it&#8217;s going to be loud. I&#8217;m excited.&#8221;</p>
<h2><strong>Connor McDavid</strong></h2>
<p>On sticking with the game: &#8220;Obviously we didn&#8217;t get the start we wanted. Didn&#8217;t make it easy on ourselves, but obviously responded well.&#8221;</p>
<p>On Mike Smith&#8217;s game: &#8220;He played great. Just a battler. Played great in there, made some big saves. Made a big play there to leo to spring him there. A little bit of everything from him tonight.&#8221;</p>
<p>On Leon&#8217;s disallowed goal: &#8220;Just trying to take the puck to the net. I beat my guy. I&#8217;m trying to get out of the way, Markstrom&#8217;s kind of coming out at the same time. It&#8217;s the same old story, you never really know. They deemed it that way and that&#8217;s the way it goes.&#8221;</p>
<p>On if he was hungry to get that one back: &#8220;I&#8217;m always hungry to make a play. Just happy to contribute.&#8221;</p>
<p>On how the Oilers were better: &#8220;I just thought we battled harder, that was all. Working, being harder in battles, winning 50/50 pucks. We didn&#8217;t win many in game one. I thought we a better job of that. We defended better, I thought. Still gave up some chances, but Schmiddy played well.&#8221;</p>
<p>On the roller coaster of up and down games, if they&#8217;re navigating it better: &#8220;I don&#8217;t think you can ride the roller coaster. It&#8217;s hard not to, obviously. Losses are no fun and wins are lots of fun. All we did was get a split here. Big game three Sunday.&#8221;</p>
<p>On Hyman&#8217;s goal: &#8220;It was a big goal, a really big goal. Special teams are a big part of the series. We got a powerplay goal, to get a shorthanded goal is usually a good recipe.&#8221;</p>
<p>On the Oilers as a group, heading back to Edmonton: &#8220;The focus is game three, and that&#8217;s all. You can&#8217;t look to far ahead. Big one game three.&#8221;</p>
<p>On if games like tonight are why Ken Holland brought in Duncan Keith: &#8220;He brought Duncan Keith here for a number of reasons. His game was great tonight. His game has been good all playoffs long. He&#8217;s huge for us. He&#8217;s such a veteran presence back there. Such a big, big voice in the room. He&#8217;s just been great tonight and tonight was a real good one.&#8221;</p>
<h2><strong>Jay Woodcroft</strong></h2>
<p>On how the Oilers were better tonight: &#8220;First of all, I thought we deserved to win the game tonight based on hard effort alone. I thought we paid the price required to win a game in the second round. Our competition level was excellent. Our execution level coming out of our own end was really good. We found a way to score, win the special teams battle. We scored a powerplay goal, we scored a shorthanded goal. Some of the goals we gave up we were a bit of a victim of circumstance. Two broken sticks, a faceoff coverage we&#8217;d like to have back. In the end, I thought to a man everyone was more competitive. We found a way in a tough environment to score seven goals. Two of them got called back of course, but we found a way to score seven. We cleaned up a lot of things defensively. It&#8217;s a good sign for our group as we move forward.&#8221;</p>
<p>On Hyman&#8217;s goal that was called back: &#8220;The way it was explained to me was the referee lost sight of the puck.&#8221;</p>
<p>On the Oilers better managing the Flames forecheck: &#8220;Without getting into to many trade secrets or anything like that, I just thought we worked back to our end in a much more disciplined fashion. I think there were things we wanted to do on our breakouts we were able to accomplish. This morning we talked about ratio of breakouts to d-zone coverage. I thought it was way more into the number we wanted it to be. When we did defend, I thought we were harder. We didn&#8217;t spend as much time in our own zone. That&#8217;s a credit to the work ethic of everyone on the ice. When we needed him, mike smith was there.&#8221;</p>
<p>On leaning on Duncan Keith in a game like tonight&#8217;s: &#8220;His personhood, or his presence comes through in big moments. And sometimes it&#8217;s something as simple as going by the bench during a tv timeout saying &#8216;hey, we got this. Take a deep breath. We&#8217;re good to go here.&#8217;. Sometimes, it&#8217;s making the big play at the right moment. I can&#8217;t say enough about Duncs. His resume is hall of fame worthy and he&#8217;ll be there one day. In terms of his ability to pass on his experiences to our group, you can&#8217;t say enough.&#8221;</p>
<p>On Mike Smith: &#8220;I thought mike was excellent today. You know, someone who as I said, when we broke down made the big save when we needed it. You talk about someone with an unbelievable resume and great experiences to pass on to his teammates. He&#8217;s one of our leaders as well.&#8221;</p>
<p>On the Oilers staying with it: &#8220;We had some things not go our way today, but I think it speaks to the resiliency and resolve of our group. It&#8217;s something we&#8217;ve been working on for the last three months. The ability to stick with it. I think if you walked into our room, you&#8217;d find a group of men that are wholly sure of our message, wholly sure of our game plan, wholly sure of what it takes to win come crunch time. We have a belief. We didn&#8217;t feel we played to that standard in game one. We knew we had better and normally I&#8217;d say I&#8217;m going to enjoy it for ten minutes, but its so late at night we&#8217;re going to work to get on the plane as quick as possible, get up north and prepare for game number three.&#8221;</p>
<p>I Didn&#8217;t quite catch the question, but I think Woodcroft is talking about Leon Draisaitl: &#8220;Excellent, excellent. We talked about that this morning. The measure of physicality he plays with, his fearlessness to go to hard areas. The way he makes people around him better. But what I saw was a leader who when the game was on the line, was prepared to be in a shooting lane when a goalie&#8217;s pulled and you&#8217;re killing a penalty. He was out there for a reason and he put his body on the line so we would win. That type of self-sacrifice is what it takes to win come this time of year.&#8221;</p>
<p>On the Oilers top powerplay unit: &#8220;I thought our powerplay as a whole scored a goal, a huge goal for our team. I thought that unit created numerous good looks, didn&#8217;t go in the net for that group. What it did was it sapped and made their penalty killers play big minutes. We were in their end a lot and it&#8217;s hard when you&#8217;re trying to defend those five guys on the ice. They can zip it around really well. As I said, the powerplay scoring a goal was a big reason why we were able to get seven past their goalie, in their building.&#8221;</p>
<p>On eliminating the Flames through the neutral zone: &#8220;I just think our assignment coverages were so much better than last game. Last game was a tough one to evaluate. If we would&#8217;ve been skating at our level and doing the things we want to do and we got beat. Then I would tip our hat and go back to the drawing board in terms of tactics and stuff. The calgary flames are who the calgary flames are. They&#8217;re not catching us by surprise. We know exactly what they want to do. For us, and where we put a lot of our focus on, is on our execution, our understanding of coverages, our work back to our own end. We felt we had much better than we showed in game one. We showed it here in game two. Like I said, this game is over. We&#8217;re already moved onto game number three.</p>
<p>On Connor McDavid continuously elevating his game, if any of it is surprising: &#8220;I think Connor is the best hockey player in the world. He&#8217;s willing to pay a price to win. He&#8217;s driven to win. He has an effect on everyone in our organization with that desire to take his game to the next level. The way this guy is playing right now, it&#8217;s special. He&#8217;s driving our team forward. We got a lot of really good efforts from a lot of people tonight. Certainly, the way Connor is playing is very inspiring.&#8221;</p>
<p>On Holloway, Broberg taking the pregame skate: &#8220;Those two players are part of our team and they are young players. I thought it would be a great experience for them, especially in this building. We felt they were ready for it, that&#8217;s why we did it.&#8221;</p>
<p>On how close Holloway, Broberg are to taking the next step: &#8220;I think we have a lot of really good available players that we can draw from. Certainly, those two are part of that group.&#8221;</p>
<hr />
<p><i><span style="font-weight: 400">Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist. He can be followed on Twitter at</span></i><a href="http://www.twitter.com/zjlaing"> <span style="font-weight: 400">@zjlaing</span></a><i><span style="font-weight: 400">, or reached by email at zach@oilersnation.com.</span></i></p>
<hr />

Now that's a sweet, sweet <a href="https://publish.oilersnation.com/2022/05/20/recap-9-0-wrap-up-edmonton-oilers-at-calgary-flames-game-2/">La Bamba</a>.



The Oilers faced more than their fair share of adversity but fought back all night long to launch an impressive 5-3 come from behind win.

Onto game three...
<h1>The Clips</h1>
https://twitter.com/zjlaing/status/1527846217136209920

https://twitter.com/zjlaing/status/1527848788223590400

https://twitter.com/zjlaing/status/1527850968166957056

https://twitter.com/zjlaing/status/1527853477153546246

https://twitter.com/zjlaing/status/1527860303345594368

https://twitter.com/zjlaing/status/1527860723572912128

https://twitter.com/zjlaing/status/1527862079260020736

https://twitter.com/zjlaing/status/1527865826803474432

https://twitter.com/zjlaing/status/1527868217204518912

https://twitter.com/zjlaing/status/1527869182552858624

https://twitter.com/zjlaing/status/1527870668112506881

https://twitter.com/zjlaing/status/1527876377625579525

https://twitter.com/zjlaing/status/1527882398934806528
<h1>The Quotes</h1>
<h2><strong>Zach Hyman</strong></h2>
On McDavid: "He's the best player in the world. He's pushing himself and I've said it before. When you're the best, it's easy to be comfortable because guys are chasing you, but it's hard to keep pushing, keep challenging yourself. He's a guy who wants to win more than anybody, so you're seeing him push himself, push our team, and those are the results."

On what the Oilers can do if McDavid keeps it up: "Like I said, you have to stay off the rollercoaster. When you win a game, you're feeling great. When you lose a game, you're feeling terrible. It's easier to prepare when you lose, because you don't want to have that feeling. When you win, you got to reset and have that hunger that you don't want to lose. I think for us, and for Connor, he just stays even keel. Nothing phases him. He's just Connor. He's humble and he goes about his day."

On the ups and downs of the game: "My stick broke on the first goal, got a goal called back, leo got a goal called back. They got one iffy one called back too. You just got to keep working. All that matters is you get the win, right? I think we just did a good job battling. We were down two goals early in the second off a too many men penalty, then just scored."

On Duncan Keith's game: "Just unphased. That's a guy when you talk about somebody who has seen it all, has done it all. Whatever defencemen award you want to say he's won it, and he's a future hall of famer and that's a guy that was brought in I think to calm the group in times that aren't going well. I think he's a big voice in that locker room in settling us down. Then obviously stepping up today. Huge goal, just making plays, being strong defensively. He's got a lot to give."

On Leon's leg, his ability to still produce: "He's an elite player. He's able to score and just made a great play. That was a huge play for us, an insurance goal."

On going back to Edmonton: "It's awesome. Can't wait to get back home. It's going to be rocking, it's going to be loud. I'm excited."
<h2><strong>Connor McDavid</strong></h2>
On sticking with the game: "Obviously we didn't get the start we wanted. Didn't make it easy on ourselves, but obviously responded well."

On Mike Smith's game: "He played great. Just a battler. Played great in there, made some big saves. Made a big play there to leo to spring him there. A little bit of everything from him tonight."

On Leon's disallowed goal: "Just trying to take the puck to the net. I beat my guy. I'm trying to get out of the way, Markstrom's kind of coming out at the same time. It's the same old story, you never really know. They deemed it that way and that's the way it goes."

On if he was hungry to get that one back: "I'm always hungry to make a play. Just happy to contribute."

On how the Oilers were better: "I just thought we battled harder, that was all. Working, being harder in battles, winning 50/50 pucks. We didn't win many in game one. I thought we a better job of that. We defended better, I thought. Still gave up some chances, but Schmiddy played well."

On the roller coaster of up and down games, if they're navigating it better: "I don't think you can ride the roller coaster. It's hard not to, obviously. Losses are no fun and wins are lots of fun. All we did was get a split here. Big game three Sunday."

On Hyman's goal: "It was a big goal, a really big goal. Special teams are a big part of the series. We got a powerplay goal, to get a shorthanded goal is usually a good recipe."

On the Oilers as a group, heading back to Edmonton: "The focus is game three, and that's all. You can't look to far ahead. Big one game three."

On if games like tonight are why Ken Holland brought in Duncan Keith: "He brought Duncan Keith here for a number of reasons. His game was great tonight. His game has been good all playoffs long. He's huge for us. He's such a veteran presence back there. Such a big, big voice in the room. He's just been great tonight and tonight was a real good one."
<h2><strong>Jay Woodcroft</strong></h2>
On how the Oilers were better tonight: "First of all, I thought we deserved to win the game tonight based on hard effort alone. I thought we paid the price required to win a game in the second round. Our competition level was excellent. Our execution level coming out of our own end was really good. We found a way to score, win the special teams battle. We scored a powerplay goal, we scored a shorthanded goal. Some of the goals we gave up we were a bit of a victim of circumstance. Two broken sticks, a faceoff coverage we'd like to have back. In the end, I thought to a man everyone was more competitive. We found a way in a tough environment to score seven goals. Two of them got called back of course, but we found a way to score seven. We cleaned up a lot of things defensively. It's a good sign for our group as we move forward."

On Hyman's goal that was called back: "The way it was explained to me was the referee lost sight of the puck."

On the Oilers better managing the Flames forecheck: "Without getting into to many trade secrets or anything like that, I just thought we worked back to our end in a much more disciplined fashion. I think there were things we wanted to do on our breakouts we were able to accomplish. This morning we talked about ratio of breakouts to d-zone coverage. I thought it was way more into the number we wanted it to be. When we did defend, I thought we were harder. We didn't spend as much time in our own zone. That's a credit to the work ethic of everyone on the ice. When we needed him, mike smith was there."

On leaning on Duncan Keith in a game like tonight's: "His personhood, or his presence comes through in big moments. And sometimes it's something as simple as going by the bench during a tv timeout saying 'hey, we got this. Take a deep breath. We're good to go here.'. Sometimes, it's making the big play at the right moment. I can't say enough about Duncs. His resume is hall of fame worthy and he'll be there one day. In terms of his ability to pass on his experiences to our group, you can't say enough."

On Mike Smith: "I thought mike was excellent today. You know, someone who as I said, when we broke down made the big save when we needed it. You talk about someone with an unbelievable resume and great experiences to pass on to his teammates. He's one of our leaders as well."

On the Oilers staying with it: "We had some things not go our way today, but I think it speaks to the resiliency and resolve of our group. It's something we've been working on for the last three months. The ability to stick with it. I think if you walked into our room, you'd find a group of men that are wholly sure of our message, wholly sure of our game plan, wholly sure of what it takes to win come crunch time. We have a belief. We didn't feel we played to that standard in game one. We knew we had better and normally I'd say I'm going to enjoy it for ten minutes, but its so late at night we're going to work to get on the plane as quick as possible, get up north and prepare for game number three."

I Didn't quite catch the question, but I think Woodcroft is talking about Leon Draisaitl: "Excellent, excellent. We talked about that this morning. The measure of physicality he plays with, his fearlessness to go to hard areas. The way he makes people around him better. But what I saw was a leader who when the game was on the line, was prepared to be in a shooting lane when a goalie's pulled and you're killing a penalty. He was out there for a reason and he put his body on the line so we would win. That type of self-sacrifice is what it takes to win come this time of year."

On the Oilers top powerplay unit: "I thought our powerplay as a whole scored a goal, a huge goal for our team. I thought that unit created numerous good looks, didn't go in the net for that group. What it did was it sapped and made their penalty killers play big minutes. We were in their end a lot and it's hard when you're trying to defend those five guys on the ice. They can zip it around really well. As I said, the powerplay scoring a goal was a big reason why we were able to get seven past their goalie, in their building."

On eliminating the Flames through the neutral zone: "I just think our assignment coverages were so much better than last game. Last game was a tough one to evaluate. If we would've been skating at our level and doing the things we want to do and we got beat. Then I would tip our hat and go back to the drawing board in terms of tactics and stuff. The calgary flames are who the calgary flames are. They're not catching us by surprise. We know exactly what they want to do. For us, and where we put a lot of our focus on, is on our execution, our understanding of coverages, our work back to our own end. We felt we had much better than we showed in game one. We showed it here in game two. Like I said, this game is over. We're already moved onto game number three.

On Connor McDavid continuously elevating his game, if any of it is surprising: "I think Connor is the best hockey player in the world. He's willing to pay a price to win. He's driven to win. He has an effect on everyone in our organization with that desire to take his game to the next level. The way this guy is playing right now, it's special. He's driving our team forward. We got a lot of really good efforts from a lot of people tonight. Certainly, the way Connor is playing is very inspiring."

On Holloway, Broberg taking the pregame skate: "Those two players are part of our team and they are young players. I thought it would be a great experience for them, especially in this building. We felt they were ready for it, that's why we did it."

On how close Holloway, Broberg are to taking the next step: "I think we have a lot of really good available players that we can draw from. Certainly, those two are part of that group."

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<i><span style="font-weight: 400">Zach Laing is the Nation Network’s news director and senior columnist. He can be followed on Twitter at</span></i><a href="http://www.twitter.com/zjlaing"> <span style="font-weight: 400">@zjlaing</span></a><i><span style="font-weight: 400">, or reached by email at zach@oilersnation.com.</span></i>

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