The Edmonton Oilers look to rebound from a tough loss when they face the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday night.
Edmonton blew a 3-2 lead against last place Columbus and wound up losing 4-3 in overtime.
"I thought we played a much better game than we played in Minnesota [where they lost 4-2] there's no question about the reaction being there," said Oilers head coach Ralph Krueger after the defeat to the Blue Jackets. "There was a lot of good things. The result is disappointing when you look at the storyline. Getting a 3-2 lead, having a 1-0 lead."
"We knew they were going to work hard," the coach added. "They're a hard working team. They battled hard and we had our chances in the overtime."
Jeff Peltry, Ryan Whitney, and Magnus Paajarvi were the goal scorers for Edmonton while goalie Devan Dubnyk made 35 saves in the loss.
The Detroit Red Wings are coming off a 2-1 victory against the Colorado Avalanche that featured tremendous goaltending from Jimmy Howard who made 36 saves on 37 shots.
Despite the win, Coach Mike Babcock was far from satisfied by his team's performance. "This was our loosest game in the last while," Babcock said. "To win on a nightly basis, you can't leave your goalie like that as much as we did tonight."
He added, "Let's not give ourselves too much credit. The score and the amount of chances we gave up aren't the same. We've played better and lost -- but it's a good thing for our hockey club. There's never been an ugly win. We know how we have to play for this group to be successful. We have to keep doing a good job."
Last Time these teams met:
Predictions: Detroit wins this game 3-1.
Start Time: 7:30 PM EST
TV: SNET-W, FS-D