He said this after his Florida Panthers, who jumped to 14th in the Eastern Conference, beat the Edmonton Oilers in a Stanley Cup Final rematch (part deux) 4-0 on Thursday night.

“Finding that juice in the regular season is a hard, hard challenge, probably more so for us than them, because of the players we have out and we’re so far out of it now,” said Maurice. “But we had the juice tonight. We had the advantage there.”

The Panthers acknowledged in their pregame comments how this matchup would mean more than another game on the slate. They were going to get up for this one. Florida played like it, too, particularly after losses to Seattle and Vancouver to start this road trip, missing Brad Marchand, Sam Reinhart, and others.

Meanwhile, for the Oilers, they played like it was just Game 70 of 82 in the regular season. It could have been Utah, Columbus, or New York. No difference there. They seemed emotionally flat, especially to start the game.

There was nothing extra, a few scrums, if any. You’d have never known that the Oilers had any tiff with the Panthers, ever, or that any opportunity Matthew Tkachuk jabs at them verbally, he does.

For anyone who circled this home game as a big draw to attend, who picked this in their family and friends season ticket draw back in the summer as a marquee matchup, you were sorely disappointed.

Simply, the Oilers didn’t see it the same way. Just another game.

“The guys worked really hard. The effort was there, but we couldn’t find a way to score a goal,” said Kris Knoblauch in his lead-off to the post-game scrum. “Maybe I’d criticize us for not shooting the puck enough. The effort was there, but we couldn’t find a goal.”

Did we watch the same game?

The Kris Knoblauch press conference had some points I agreed with.

The Oilers did overpass the puck and no, they weren’t dominated or anything like that. In fact, in terms of high-danger scoring chances at five-on-five, they doubled the Panthers 14-7, according to Natural Stat Trick.

If Matt Savoie buries that golden opportunity in tight against Sergei Bobrovsky early, it could’ve been a different game.

But the Oilers also lacked an emotional engagement level that would seem easier to summon against a supposed hated rival, than 99 per cent of the slate. This is the team that ended their Stanley Cup dreams twice.

Knoblauch didn’t feel the same. The focus was always just on two points. He shut down any suggestion that the story of the game was about anything other than the lack of putting the puck in the net.

Now, the Oilers defeated the Panthers 7-4 back on Nov. 22, at a time when wins were harder to come by. That may have been the “revenge” game. But a lasting memory of that contest was the physicality, the extracurriculars, was A.J. Greer being public enemy No. 1 of the fanbase.

Connor Clattenburg was a part of that rambunctiousness, and Bob Stauffer asked about whether they missed him, or rather, that youth exuberance or jam, in this type of game.

“I don’t know. I think we’re overlooking the fact that we won – I’m not sure we were more physically engaged,” he said. “I don’t think we had them rattled. I like Clattenberg…. I think whatever he provided in seven, eight minutes, changed how our team played that night – I think it’s just not how it happened.”

Now, I’m not calling for Clattenburg, but this game was disappointing on the emotional side, especially because the Oilers laid down and took the beating.

It’s about making it hard on your opponent, even if you’re losing. Despite getting drilled in Dallas a week ago, they mixed it up multiple times. When Draisaitl was hit and left the game against Nashville, they took Ozzy Wiesblatt’s number and let him know.

This group seemed to be coming together as a team, a team that says look, right, wrong or indifferent, we are going to make it a more difficult night. To dismiss that aspect of the game seems wrong.

Now, what Kris Knoblauch says publicly, and what he says behind closed doors, are two different things. But he looked like a coach on the hot seat at the podium.

Of course, this team needs the two points, and if there is a silver lining to the Thursday slate, nobody in the Pacific Division won either. But being emotionally engaged, playing with gamesmanship against a bitter rival, while chasing two points for a Pacific Division crown, are not mutually exclusive.

The game smacked like Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final, the last time the Panthers were in town. A bitter memory.

Maybe we’re wrong for saying there are hard feelings.

The blender be blending

Overall, pucks seemed to repel sticks at the crucial moments, many good scoring chances were passed out of, and Sergei Bobrovsky stood tall. A familiar tale. The Oilers finished with 21 shots – not enough against a struggling goaltender.

They missed Leon Draisaitl in a significant way.

This made Knoblauch’s decision to change every line ahead of this game baffling. The Oilers got goals from all four lines against the Sharks, and the depth was championed.

Yes, Kasperi Kapanen was sick and was a game-time decision, but if the game was so important for two points, why was the best two-forward combination of Connor McDavid and Zach Hyman broken up? Josh Samanski, playing centre with Vasily Podkolzin and Kasperi Kapanen, was a good line on Tuesday.

With Draisaitl out, the Oilers’ ability to plug and play lessens, because he’s an elite player who can create with almost anyone beside him. Other players need time to marinate together. And if it does work, why change it so quickly?

“Any time you don’t have Leon, you’re going to miss him,” said Knoblauch. “You need to find somebody to make that next play.”

Another injury?

Worse news for the Oilers is that the parade to the infirmary of the past two and a half weeks continued.

Trent Frederic left the game in the third period and didn’t return, a player who has found his stride and is contributing post-Olympics. There was no update afterward, but if he’s out, it’s another piece to this puzzle that is unavailable.

Roby Järventie, called up on an emergency basis on Thursday, may make his Oilers debut.

May the lines blend.

Saturday’s game against the Tampa Bay Lightning will be the Oilers’ eighth in 14 nights. It will not be easy, especially if they keep losing another forward every other night.

Michael Menzies is an Oilersnation columnist and has been the play-by-play voice of the Bonnyville Pontiacs in the AJHL since 2019. With seven years news experience as the Editor-at-Large of Lakeland Connect in Bonnyville, he also collects vinyl, books, and stomach issues. Follow him on X at Menzies_4.