{"id":542879,"date":"2026-04-05T23:26:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T23:26:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/542879\/"},"modified":"2026-04-05T23:26:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T23:26:17","slug":"draisaitl-less-oilers-will-have-to-adjust-to-life-without-hyman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/542879\/","title":{"rendered":"Draisaitl-less Oilers will have to adjust to life without Hyman"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Day After 77.0: Draisaitl-less Oilers will have to adjust to life without Hyman<\/p>\n

For the second year in a row, the Edmonton Oilers will be playing short key bodies down the stretch.<\/p>\n

\u201cZach will stay at home, and hopefully he\u2019ll be able to join us for that Monday game, or at the latest, Vancouver,\u201d said Knoblauch after the game, wherein before the game, he acknowledged that \u201cif this were a playoff game, he\u2019d be playing.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s good news, at least.<\/p>\n

Without two-thirds of the nuclear line, the Oilers struggled against the Golden Knights on Saturday. Vegas had some bounces go their way, which helped get their night going and keep it so, as the Oilers got snuffed out from high-danger scoring chances. Thus, Edmonton\u2019s winning streak ends at five games.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen things are going well, you forget about those details \u2014 those first couple of strides coming back, you get a little extra aggressive on the pinch. You\u2019re just maybe overconfident, get a little bit lazy or whatever it is. I think\u00a0 we\u2019re just not paying attention to those details. One goal, just not chasing your stick back to the middle of the ice. It\u2019s just a lot of stuff that we just got to clean up and easily fixable.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s good news that it\u2019s easily fixable, as they\u2019ll need to this coming week. The Oilers\u2019 schedule will take them on the road to face the Utah Mammoth, San Jose Sharks and Los Angeles Kings, and while the Oilers and Ducks sit tied atop the Pacific Division<\/a>, the Golden Knights now sit just one point back.<\/p>\n

These games will be crucial for the Oilers if they want to secure home-ice advantage in the playoffs.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, this is not the same team without them, and there\u2019s guys that have been stepping up and we\u2019ve been doing a great job in their absence,\u201d said defenceman Jake Walman. \u201cIt gives more opportunity, but at the same time, there\u2019s those spots that you can\u2019t replace certain guys, like you said, on that one-timer and power play and possession of the puck, so obviously we miss those guys for those reasons.\u201d<\/p>\n

What they said\u2026<\/p>\n

Trent Frederic on what was said when both teams gathered near the benches after the game\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah. I mean, it\u2019s just the bickering back and forth. Everyone telling everyone they make too much money and stuff like that, which is all true.\u201d<\/p>\n

Curtis Lazar on the Oilers being more physical in games\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the league goes on throughout the season, it tightens up, you know, it\u2019s harder to score goals, the details, the physicality, all that. It\u2019s mandatory, you know, and I\u2019m liking our response, being able to turn momentum in the games and not backing down from the fight. So, if the game wants to get chippy, you know, we\u2019re more than willing to play that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kris Knoblauch on what led to the loss\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought we were adequate tonight, but the story, where we lost it, was off the rush, giving up chances off the rush, whether it was a bad pinch, forwards not coming back. All four of their goals and pretty much most of their chances off that. You know, we only generated one goal, but You know, I thought we probably should have maybe had a couple more chances, goalposts, just missing the net. So maybe we could have generated a little more offensively. But I think the story was just the chances we gave up off the rush.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zach Laing is Oilersnation\u2019s managing editor, and The Nation Network\u2019s news director. He also makes up one-half of the Daily Faceoff DFS Hockey Report<\/a>. He can be followed on X at @zjlaing<\/a>, or reached by email at zach.laing@bettercollective.com.The Nation Playoff Draft Party \u2014 Team Sign-Up Now Open\"\"<\/a>Edmonton hockey fans \u2014 think you and your crew know playoff hockey? Prove it at the\u00a0Nation Playoff Draft Party\u00a0on\u00a0Friday, April 17th at the River Cree Resort & Casino.\u00a0Build your playoff roster, compete against other teams throughout the postseason, and battle for\u00a0$2,500 cash and Nation bragging rights.\u00a0Team entry is\u00a0$1,000 for groups of 8, which includes dinner and your first bevy. The night will be hosted by\u00a0Ryder & Lisa from The Sauce\u00a0and\u00a0Tyler & Liam from ON Everyday, so expect plenty of energy, competition, and chirps.\u00a0Spots are limited \u2014 sign your team up now at\u00a0nationgear.ca<\/a>.\u00a0All proceeds from the event support\u00a0KidSport Edmonton, helping ensure local kids can stay in the game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Day After 77.0: Draisaitl-less Oilers will have to adjust to life without Hyman For the second year…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":542880,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5125],"tags":[198,146,5300,5,4,24],"class_list":{"0":"post-542879","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-edmonton-oilers","8":"tag-edmonton","9":"tag-edmonton-oilers","10":"tag-edmontonoilers","11":"tag-hockey","12":"tag-nhl","13":"tag-oilers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116354691835582015","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=542879"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542879\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/542880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=542879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=542879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=542879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}