The Edmonton Oilers escaped Thursday night with two points but Kris Knoblauch didn’t try to disguise what he saw in a 6-5 win that revealed almost as many problems as positives.
“It looked like we were a team for maybe the last ten minutes,” Knoblauch admitted after the wild comeback over Montreal. “The first fifty were disorganized. It was lack of work. It didn’t look very good.”
It was the kind of game that summed up Edmonton’s early season with bursts of elite execution buried under stretches of loose structure and erratic puck play. Yet, for all the chaos they found a way helped by a power play that finally clicked and a fresh set of line combinations that steadied the attack just in time.
Kris Knoblauch still playing with line shuffles
Knoblauch again separated Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl midgame looking for a more balanced attack. It’s become something of a recurring theme this month with the constant searching, mixing and re-mixing of forward groups as the coaching staff tries to spark consistent 5-on-5 play.
“We were searching,” Knoblauch said. “The last ten minutes, it looked like we had found somethin. Obviously separating Leon and Connor just gave us a little more balanced attack.”
The new look worked. Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins both scored while Vasily Podkolzin, shifted back alongside Draisaitl late, netted the game-winner on a backhand with 1:09 remaining which was also his first goal of the season. Rookie Ike Howard earned praise for “the way he was skating” and continues to gain the coach’s trust while Carter Savoy drew his coach’s confidence by finishing the game on the ice in crunch time.
Knoblauch also acknowledged Podkolzin’s constant movement up and down the lineup as something, he said, is rooted more in respect than indecision. “He works to get the puck back. He allows those other players to play with it,” the coach explained. “A lot of times, I move him somewhere to jumpstart somebody else on that line.”
That willingness to shuffle lines within games has been a hallmark of Knoblauch’s tenure. But he was blunt when asked what it would take to finally let the combinations breathe.
“Usually the flow of the game. If it’s in our favor and things are going well, and we don’t have to chase or evade a line matchup, then we can let them ride. But you don’t want to be taking away your two most important assets if they’re not feeling it that night.”
Oilers disconnected execution remains a concern
Even with six goals on the board, the Oilers play with the puck left their head coach frustrated. Montreal capitalized on repeated defensive breakdowns and unforced errors, the “oopsies,” as Knoblauch called them that continue to plague Edmonton’s starts.
“I think our structure and work ethic defensively has been pretty good,” he said. “What hasn’t been good is just the puck management.”
Knoblauch zeroed in on something that’s quietly become a trend of missed passes and overhandled pucks in all three zones. “It’s either confidence or overconfidence, holding onto that puck too long, looking for a better play, and then that closes. You’re forced to have a hope play rather than moving it quick,” he explained. “We’re just not connected right now.”
The numbers bear that out. The Oilers finished with 29 shots to Montreal’s 27 but much of their possession came late. For long stretches, their transition game sputtered. Still, Edmonton dominated faceoffs (63%) and took advantage of the Canadiens’ parade to the box, Montreal logged 20 penalty minutes to Edmonton’s 2. The power play dormant in recent outings was very important in the comeback with two third-period goals that pulled the Oilers even.
Kris Knoblauch opines on Oilers offense
The game saw five different Oilers record their first goal of the season over the past few nights something Knoblauch views as both encouraging and overdue.
“You can’t shoot four or five percent all the time,” he said. “You’ve got to find some easy goals, some bounces.”
Edmonton’s goals came from Draisaitl, Nugent-Hopkins, Adam Henrique, David Tomasek, Andrew Mangiapane and Podkolzin which is again showing rare depth scoring that eased the pressure on the top duo this seaosn.
Knoblauch called the late push “fortunate” but said that the process has to start earlier. “We created a little more in the third and were able to feel good about scoring goals. We need to continue to work and press like that from the start.”
The coach also offered brief updates on personnel including defenseman Alec Regula being “very close” to returning while Mattias Janmark remains at least another week or two away.
Knoblauch believes Oilers have a ‘lot to clean up’
The Oilers improved to 4-3-1 with the win, but Knoblauch’s tone was unmistakably sober. He saw a fragile team that still relies too often on late bursts and individual talent to overcome sloppiness.
“It was disorganized,” he repeated. “We’ve got a lot of things to clean up.”
Still, for a night that started with confusion and ended with La Bamba inside Rogers Place, it offered something to build on, a fleeting look in Knoblauch’s words, at “a team.”