Oilers balance playoff pressure with playing with urgency in Game 5 vs. Stars

These National Hockey League playoffs mark the furthest the Edmonton Oilers have come in a generation.

They're uncharted waters for most players on the team, including the longest-tenured one: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who was 13 and five years away from being their first-overall draft pick when the Oilers beat the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim eighteen years ago this week in the fifth game of the Western Conference Final to advance to the Stanley Cup.

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Not all, though. Six — Cody Ceci, Mattias Ekholm, Adam Henrique, Mattias Janmark, Evander Kane and Corey Perry — have gotten this far in an NHL final-four showdown before with other teams, with Perry lifting the Cup with the Ducks in 2007 (and playing against the Oilers in the 2006 conference final as a rookie).

While there's more pressure on the players now that they, as a group, have come further than before, Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said that his and the players' jobs are about "creating some confidence and assuring that things are going to be OK."

"We just have to go out there and play our game," Knoblauch told media on Friday before Game 5 of their third-round series against the Dallas Stars.

"I don't think it's time to put more pressure on players to step up and play better because they know they want to perform. Hopefully, we can feed off each other and help each other out."

Ekholm, the top-pairing defenceman who skated in a Cup final with the Nashville Predators in 2018 but ultimately lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins, said "realizing the opportunity" helps players navigate the stress of competing in the playoffs.

"Everybody knows there's a lot on the line, and everybody wants it, but you've got to take a deep breath at the same time and just cool yourself down, and make sure you're staying composed and then to not get too far ahead of yourself in these kinds of situations," Ekholm said Friday.

Urgency, though, 'a good thing'

For 13-year veteran Nugent-Hopkins, though, "playing a little urgent" is optimal for the Oilers.

"You don't want to play desperate in the sense where you're giving up chances and you're going full bore offensively, but at the same time, I think the urgency is a good thing for this group," said Nugent-Hopkins, who will suit up for his 66th career playoff game on Friday.

"When we're skating, putting pucks in and everybody's working together on the same page, that's when we're at our best."

And if Knoblauch wants to tap into someone's confidence heading into Friday's game at Dallas's American Airlines Center, it should be that expressed by Leon Draisaitl.

The star Oilers centre, who like Nugent-Hopkins will also play in post-season match No. 66 for his career, said before the game he "truly" believes the Oilers' "best beats anyone's best."

"It's just a matter of consistently playing that way, and that's taxing," said Draisaitl, who sits second in league playoff scoring with 26 points, two behind teammate Connor McDavid.

"To play at your best every single night, every single shift, that's hard to do, but I think we're finding our way a little bit and looking to continue that."