Edmonton Oilers no longer in home-ice advantage position for playoffs
The Edmonton Oilers were looked at as the favourite of all 32 NHL teams to win the Stanley Cup entering the 2024-25 season.
After a bit of a slow start to the season, they picked things back up and looked every bit as good of a team as they were a season ago. Over the last month and a half, however, chaos has ensued.
It all started just before the 4 Nations Face-Off break, where the Oilers first lost to the Detroit Red Wings in a shootout in late January. They were then just able to scrape off overtime wins versus the Chicago Blackhawks and St. Louis Blues before falling to the Colorado Avalanche in their final game before the two-week break.
Since returning, things have gone from bad to worse.
The Oilers have won just three of their 10 games out of the break, including losses to teams such as the Philadelphia Flyers, Anaheim Ducks, and Buffalo Sabres. One of those wins came against the Dallas Stars, an outing in which they were up 5-1 heading into the third period and were just able to squeak out a 5-4 victory.
Now, with just 17 games remaining, they sit outside a top-two spot in the Pacific Division, putting any chance of home-ice advantage heading into the playoffs in serious doubt.
NHL.com
With their slump, the Oilers have fallen back to third in the Pacific Division following an LA Kings win last night. If the playoffs were to start today, they would face the Kings in the opening round for the fourth straight year but would begin the series on the road.
Over their last 10 games, the Oilers have given up a ridiculous 40 goals. Their offence hasn’t been particularly great either, scoring just 27 over that same span.
Connor McDavid has looked human over that stretch, recording just two goals and 13 points with a plus/minus of -6. Zach Hyman and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins have a combined nine points in that same span, while Jeff Skinner and Viktor Arvidsson have continued to struggle immensely.
Along with their goaltending and offensive struggles, their blue line has also been in complete disarray. Granted, they’ve been without Mattias Ekholm for the last four outings, but aside from newcomer Jake Walman, the rest have struggled.
Adding to the list of concerns is the Oilers’ special teams. Their power play, while still solid at 26.4 per cent, hasn’t been nearly as dominant all season long as it had been the past several years. Meanwhile, their penalty kill sits 24th at 75.6 per cent.
The one positive the Oilers have going for them right now is Leon Draisaitl, who has continued to fill the back of the net since the break. His 47 goals are 11 ahead of second-place William Nylander’s 36. He’s been forced to carry a team that has a whole lot of passengers at this time.
Though good teams will always have bumps in the road throughout a season, this doesn’t have the feeling of any ordinary slump. They have 17 games remaining to figure things out, but if it continues like this into the playoffs, it’s hard to envision them returning to the Stanley Cup Final.
- You might also like:
- Sportsnet and even TSN reporters are coming together to celebrate Arash Madani