Gold-fingered Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch has major lineup decision for Game 2: 9 Things

The Oilers were, on-balance, the better team. They easily out-shot and out-chanced Florida. The penalty kill was excellent again.

A couple mistakes ended up in the back of the Edmonton net. Otherwise, the Oilers quite simply got “Bob’d.”

So, the Oilers will somehow need to duplicate much of what they brought on Saturday night but at the same time solve the puzzle that is Sergei Bobrovsky.

9. In any 7-game series where a team does not have home ice advantage you hope for a sweep in the other guy’s rink. But the reasonable expectation is a split. That is good news and bad. Good because you win Game 2 and it is a brand, new series. Bad, because if you lose…

8. The National Hockey League’s salary cap will move to $88m for 2024-25. Up 5.4%, it if the first big jump since prior to the pandemic. That is a shade higher than anticipated. And every little bit will help the Edmonton Oilers as they try to keep this roster more or less intact.

7. Edmonton first played for the Stanley Cup in 1908. It was not the “Oilers” yet but rather the “Thistles,” who lost to the Montreal Wanderers. That Edmonton club included Lester Patrick, recruited out of Nelson, B.C. for the challenge. Patrick is whom the Lester Patrick Trophy is named for, given in recognition of outstanding contributions to hockey in the United States.6. Our family had seasons tickets to the Edmonton Oilers for quite a few years. My little guy, now a university graduate, grew up on the hot dogs and orange pop at Rexall Place. He watched Sam Gagner, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid play their first NHL games. So, for us, Saturday night was not just another game. It was a culmination of a lifetime filled with memories. No doubt thousands of families share a similar story.