Oilers’ Leon Draisaitl, Kris Knoblauch reveal keys to solving Sergei Bobrovsky

The Edmonton Oilers failed to find the back of the net in their 3-0 loss to the Florida Panthers in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final, but the team, specifically Leon Draisaitl and coach Kris Knoblauch remain confident that they will be able to break through and beat Sergei Bobrovsky.

“He’s a good goalie,” Leon Draisaitl said of Sergei Bobrovsky, via Greg Wyshynski of ESPN. “He’s going to make some big-time saves. Knowing that is important. With our group we’re always going to get our looks. We’re always going to get chances. Continue to play loose and just play our game.”

The Oilers outshot the Panthers 32-18 in the game, and Bobrovsky was up to the task for all of them, especially in the first period, when Edmonton outshot Florida 12-4. Despite the edge to the Oilers in shots, the Panthers entered the first intermission up 1-0 on a Carter Verhaeghe goal.

While Bobrovsky had a good game, Kris Knoblauch did not say that the game was stolen by the goaltender.

“It’s fair to say that he played really well, but I think there’s just things that we can do that are in our control that we could have made more on our chances,” Knoblauch said, via Wyshynski. “He definitely made some big saves, but I think there were some missed opportunities where we just missed the net or didn’t get the shot that we wanted.”

What will the Oilers do to adjust after Game 1 loss?

There are positives to take from the Oilers’ performance, but Knoblauch did not seem to think it was necessarily a stolen game. He still remains confident in his team to perform well enough to find the back of the net and score on good chances. There is also no worry about the shutout in Game 1 getting in the Oilers’ heads.

“We have to just put ourselves in a position to get good-quality scoring chances and bear down on those opportunities. And if we’re playing well, they’ll go our way,” Knoblauch said, via Wyshynski. “As good as any goaltender can play against us, we’ll get some production.”

The Oilers have the high-end talent to put up big numbers in this series. Obviously, that did not happen in Game 1. The Panthers are a stifling defensive team, but it would be a surprise to not see the Oilers’ stars like Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and more break out in at least one of the games in this series.

A low-scoring game seems to favor the Panthers’ style of play, while the Oilers would probably like to play the game wide open and make it a high-scoring affair. The Oilers will look to even up the series with a win on Monday on the road before heading home for Game 3.

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