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Edmonton Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch had mixed feelings after his team won their first game of the season, beating the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 in overtime on Tuesday. Despite the win, Knoblauch was critical of his team's performance, especially about the penalties they took.
In a post-game press conference, he noted that the team faced challenges but that many of them were self-inflicted.
"I thought, overall, we played a pretty good game," Knoblauch said. "I think there was a lot of adversity that we self-inflicted adversity. Obviously the penalties were not ideal in the amount of time we were penalty killing."
He acknowledged their effort to win but stressed the need to avoid making things more difficult for themselves.
Knoblauch praised goaltender Samuel Ersson, who made key saves in the second period. He also pointed out the need for accountability, particularly regarding Leon Draisaitl, who took a penalty but scored the game-winning goal. Knoblauch said:
"Our best players really came up clutch."
The Oilers had nine penalties, which worried Knoblauch, who said that they need to spend less time in the penalty box to succeed.
"We just got to ultimately stay out of the penalty box and play our game, make it easier on ourselves so we can play on the attack, play a five-on-five or even be drawing penalties.," he said.
The Edmonton Oilers next face the Nashville Predators on Thursday at 6 p.m. MDT. The Oilers have a 1-3-0 record, while the Predators are 0-3-0, including 0-2 at home.
Leon Draisaitl talks about "scratching for points" after Oilers' win
Leon Draisaitl scored 56 seconds into overtime, giving the Oilers a 4-3 win over the Flyers. Connor McDavid set up the goal after his initial shot was saved. Evan Bouchard, Connor Brown and Adam Henrique also scored for Edmonton, while Stuart Skinner made 27 saves.
"We are obviously scratching for some points here early on." Draisaitl said. "Any point we can get is big, and it was nice to come back and win the game."
Matvei Michkov scored his first two NHL goals for Philadelphia, both on the power play. Bobby Brink added one for the Flyers, while Samuel Ersson stopped 29 shots. Edmonton tied the game late in the third period before winning in overtime.
