Father of Oilers head coach still confident in team’s ability to win cup

As the Stanley Cup finals shift to Edmonton for the first time since 2006, the Edmonton Oilers are hoping the scoring will also shift.

Edmonton has just one goal through the first two games of the series against the Florida Panthers, who lead 2-0.

Game 3 will be played on Thursday evening, with the puck dropping at 6 p.m. local time. Tickets will be pricey and hard to come by, as many want to be able to witness history.

But despite the Oilers not getting the results the team or its fan base hoped for so far in the series, Robert Knoblauch, the father of Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch, said his confidence in his son’s team is still high.

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“I’m still confident. Game 1, we probably deserved better,” Knoblauch said Thursday during an appearance on the Evan Bray show.

“We have such high-end talent on the team, and if everything goes good I don’t see any reason why we can’t take this series in six or seven games.”

Kris, who’s originally from Imperial, Sask., took over as the team’s bench boss in November after the Oilers hit their lowest point of the season. Now, he’s aiming to bring them to the highest point in hockey.

Since he took over, Kris has been seen as a calm presence on the Oilers bench. Robert said his son learned that during his time with the University of Alberta.

“He learned that when he was at the U of A playing under Rob Daum,” explained Knoblauch. “Kris noticed that the players played better and learned better when the coach was calm behind the bench.”

Robert said he always knew his son was going to be a big name in hockey.

“He could put his equipment on and take it off when he was two years old,” said Knoblauch. “We knew we had a hockey player right away.”

Robert said he still enjoys going to the rink and watching his son coach.