Oilers wait on next opponent before extensively preparing for Round 2

Edmonton Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch at team practice on May 3, 2024. (David Parker/TSN)

The Edmonton Oilers are waiting to strategize for Round 2 until their next National Hockey League playoff opponent — either the Vancouver Canucks or the Nashville Predators — is determined, says their head coach.

Kris Knoblauch told media on Friday following practice at Edmonton's Downtown Community Arena that Oilers staff started taking closer looks at both potential next-round opponents — the Canucks lead the first-round series with the Predators series three games to two heading into Friday's Game 6 — before their own playoff-opening round against the Los Angeles Kings.

"We're prepared for both teams ... just because there's so much work to go into a pre-scout," Knoblauch said.

"If we wait until the series is done, there's just not enough time."

The Oilers won their best-of-seven series with the Kings on Wednesday, beating them in five games

The first-year bench boss, who took over duties in mid-November, said, however, he and his coaching staff will wait to prepare players for either the Canucks or Predators until they know who they'll face next.

"There are some tendencies that both teams do," Knoblauch said.

"Their systems are similar in some aspects. We can work on those things — we can say this is what we want to do because no matter who we were playing, this is our goal — but as for showing Vancouver's offensive zone face-offs or Nashville's forecheck or something like that, we'll wait until we know."

Oilers defenceman Darnell Nurse said there is merit in holding off on taking a deep dive into studying another team.

"There's also an element of not going too far into the game and trying to nitpick every single tendency or nitpick every single thing that can happen in a game, and just go there and play," Nurse told reporters after practice.

"Our team is best when we have a flow to our game and our reading and reacting ... The only thing that we can control right now is how we prepare physically and prepare for our next game."