Road Warriors: Edmonton Oil Kings Open U.S. Stretch With Split

There's nothing like following a big loss with an even bigger victory.

The Edmonton Oil Kings suffered a 7-2 defeat at the hands of the Everett Silvertips on Friday, a game that saw Edmonton out of the contest for large portions; interjecting here and there with a goal but not much sustained pressure.

It was then followed up with a 7-1 win over the Portland WInterhawks the very next night. For such a quick turnaround between games, head coach Luke Pierce was proud of his team for how they responded.

"You know, it's huge, you gotta get back on the horse and I thought we got a good lesson yesterday on the work ethic it takes. Everett's got a real good hockey team and I thought they took us to the shed on a few things so for us to play the way we did today, I think is a credit to our group and the maturity that we're starting to show."

Pierce continued, saying the team responded well to the changes that the coaching staff wanted to make despite not having a physical practice on Saturday.

"We had a good session this morning on some video, we didn't get in until 2:30 so we didn't skate this morning and just had a little longer meeting than normal and you know, talking about getting back to our structure. I thought we were real loose in Everett and just didn't resemble the type of team that were supposed to be, and I thought structurally we were much better today. There's still some areas to clean up and Alex (Worthington) kind of had to bail us out on a few things that we broke down on."

Edmonton is currently in the middle of a six-game road trek that sees them in Tri-City, Spokane, Seattle, and Wenatchee in four of the next  nights. Pierce touched on the scale of the trip, saying it's a lot to manage between rest, meals, and giving his guys the best chance to win.

"I mean we zigzag all over the Western states here. It's a really weird layout the way this trip's been built for us, but you know, hopefully at the end of it, you've built some character and some resiliency and then we have a better team when we come out of it."

Make sure you bookmark THN's WHL site for the latest news, exclusive interviews, breakdowns, and so much more.

Riley Heidt Becomes First Cougars Player To 300 Career Points

Spokane Chiefs Acquire Sam Oremba From The Regina Pats

Fifty-Five WHL Players Recognized By NHL's Central Scouting List

Cougars, Tigers, And Silvertips Remain In CHL Week Five Top Ten

Standouts From Week 5 Of The 2024-25 WHL Season