Coach still looking for complete game effort as Oilers visit Buffalo

Edmonton Oilers' Connor McDavid, left, congratulates Leon Draisaitl, center, on his game-winning goal against the Carolina Hurricanes with Evan Bouchard (2) and Curtis Lazar (20) nearby during the third period of an NHL hockey game in Raleigh, N.C., Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025.

They’re coming off a win as they get ready for the midpoint of a long road trip, but Kris Knoblauch says he thinks the Edmonton Oilers can keep working towards that ever-elusive state: putting in a strong effort from start to finish.

“A lot of it has to do with playing 60 minutes,” the head coach said after the team’s morning skate ahead of Monday night’s game (5 p.m. MT) against the host Buffalo Sabres. “We’ve had stretches ...where we’ve looked sharp and played well, but I don’t know if there have been many games where, after they finish, we said, ‘We really like the full effort from everybody and the whole team.’

“A lot of it is just being a little more engaged, (and using) a little more intensity and energy to find that push for longer stretches.”

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The Oilers head into Buffalo after earning a victory on Saturday over the Carolina Hurricanes in a game that saw Edmonton give up – yet again – a two-goal lead but win it 4-3 in overtime, a reversal of fortune from back-to-back contests two weeks ago in which they coughed up such leads only to lose.

Knoblauch said, like he has over much of the Oilers’ first 20 games of the season in which they’ve run up a 9-7-4 record, players old and new are still “getting used to each other,” particularly at forward – where half the roster is new this season – but that players needs to clean up their play without the puck.

“Even the guys that have been here for a while and are on the ice together, we’ve had mistakes more than we should. So you know, I think it’s just about being engaged and paying attention and being ready to execute. Right now, we’re giving up more chances than I would like. We defended very well last year. (We were) one of the best defensive teams, and right now, we’re just OK at it.

“If we want to be a really good team, we’ve got to be better defensively.”

Veteran Oilers defenceman Mattias Ekholm, too, wants to get back to “a defensive game that we can be proud of.”

“I was playing a lot of hockey in the last two years, understanding that we can’t just coast through the regular season. You’ve got to fight. It’s a hard league in which to make the playoffs,” Ekholm told media. “It’s on us veterans and leaders that have been on this team for a little bit now, that we’ve got to understand that it’s not just going to come to us.”

Projected Oilers lineup

Forward

• Matt Savoie • Connor McDavid • Zach Hyman
• Vasily Podkolzin • Leon Draisaitl • Jack Roslovic
• Andrew Mangiapane • Adam Henrique • Trent Frederic
• Mattias Janmark • Noah Philp • Curtis Lazar

Defence

• Mattias Ekholm • Evan Bouchard
• Darnell Nurse • Jake Walman
• Brett Kulak • Alec Regula

Goal

• Stuart Skinner • Calvin Pickard