As a 13-game winning streak was at stake and the game was at 1-1, Knoblauch started Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl on the top line with Zach Hyman. This forced Ryan Nugent-Hopkins to center the second line between Evander Kane and Warren Foegele.
Mattias Janmark and Derek Ryan were placed on the fourth line with Sam Gagner after Dylan Holloway and Connor Brown were promoted from the fourth line to play with third-line centerman Ryan McLeod.
And that’s how the lineups stayed when the Oilers responded with three goals in a row to win 4-1, outshooting the Blue Jackets 11-5 in the last 20 minutes to extend their winning streak to 14 games.
against the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday, hoping to make it 15 straight.
Draisaitl stated, “We knew we had to regroup and obviously, we didn’t want the streak to end there. We probably played the two worst periods in a long time the last game.” It took us twenty minutes to get everything together, so we had to be mindful of that.
That’s also what successful teams do occasionally. We played without it for the first forty minutes, but in the last stages of the game, we switched it on a little bit and won. Therefore, it’s not how we want to start games and spend the first forty minutes, but occasionally that’s how things work out.
Knoblauch wanted to start the first faceoff on Thursday with a strong showing, so he sent out his two best weapons at the same time.
“I believe that coaches frequently overreact. We make more changes than are necessary. Usually, the players have to solve problems and come to an agreement,” Knoblauch remarked. “Obviously, there are instances when you have to adjust for strategy, line matches, or other reasons, but in the end, I believe that we had to make a change for the last game.
We were so stale. They replied in the third period, which was when we needed to shake things up.
That staleness could have a very reasonable explanation. After all, the Oilers have advanced from 30th place in the NHL to their best record over a 43-game run dating back to 1986–1987—the last time Edmonton won its division—in only the previous two months.
The Oilers’ 22-3 run, which saw them defeat six of the 11 clubs sitting above them in the rankings, was the reason for this.
That’s a significant victory. And not many changes were made to the lineup during that time. particularly in the top six, with the exception of McLeod, who came up to temporarily replace Kane.
