'We found a way': Oilers survive scare in Chicago, look for 4th straight win in Minnesota
Jay Woodcroft could hardly wait to get out of Chicago Wednesday night.
Not only did his team barely hang on to win 5-4 over the Blackhawks after holding a 4-1 lead, but the Edmonton Oilers are right back at it Thursday night.
"We got the two points and we're ready to move on. It's 11:45 at night right now and we're gonna get on a plane and go to Minnesota," the head coach said.
Woodcroft spoke to reporters for just 61 seconds, according to a video posted by the team. He chatted for eight minutes after the Oilers beat Florida 4-3 Monday.
The coach took three questions in Chicago and kept his answers to the point.
"We found a way to get 2 points and that was our goal heading into the game. We were up 4-1 and there were a couple penalty calls made, and they made it interesting, but we found a way to get the win," Woodcroft said.
The Oilers (13-10) have less than 24 hours to travel, rest and reset before taking on the Wild (10-9-2) in Minnesota.
They beat Chicago thanks in part to a three-point night by Leon Draisaitl and a goal and an assist from both Connor McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.
A bright spot for the team was the emergence of some offence from depth players. Former Blackhawk Mattias Janmark scored his first of the year and added an assist.
"Always nice to score against an old team like that, for sure," he said. "Goals are hard to come by in this league, so you gotta try to convert, and we did a good job today."
Jesse Puljujarvi also had an assist. Although he hasn't scored in 16 games, he now has three helpers in his last five games.
"It was little scrambled in the end but we won. That's the important thing," he told reporters.
"I felt good there with Nuge and Janmark. We made those little plays and when we had a chance to shoot, we shoot. Nice couple of goals there."
Minnesota has won six straight games against the Oilers, but this is the first matchup this year.
The puck drops shortly after 6 p.m. MT and Jack Campbell is expected to be in the net for Edmonton.
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