Oilers can make franchise history on upcoming home stand
The Edmonton Oilers might’ve missed out on the NHL record for longest winning streak, but they can still make some history on their upcoming five-game home stand.
Heading into tomorrow night’s matchup against the Boston Bruins, the Oilers are riding an eight-game winning streak on home ice. This dates back to January 2 when they defeated the Philadelphia Flyers 5-2 at Rogers Place.
That mark is just a few games from their franchise record of nine consecutive home wins, done twice only in 2016-17 and 2021-22.
NHL.com
It will be no easy feat for the team. They will have to win their next two games to break the record, and neither opponent will be easy to put away. The Bruins are second overall in the league standings with a 33-12-11 record. The Minnesota Wild, though out of a playoff spot, are coming off a 10-goal performance against the league-leading Vancouver Canucks.
Edmonton has not played the Bruins this season and went 1-1 against them last year. This will be the third meeting with the Wild this season, with Minnesota taking the first meeting by a score of 7-4 and the Oilers returning the favour 4-3 in their second tilt.
Now, if you want to have fun with things, the Oilers could also use this home stand to help build towards the NHL record for longest home winning streak. Winning every game on this next stretch would extend their streak to 13. This is still a little ways off of the record of 23, set by the 2011-12 Detroit Red Wings.
NHL.com
If the Oilers want a chance to break this record, they will need everyone in the lineup to pull their weight. Luckily, it looks like Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl are firing on all cylinders, combining for 20 points over the last five games, while Evan Bouchard has registered nine points in that span as well.
The bottom six seems to be heating up a tiny bit as well, with Derek Ryan, Warren Foegele, and Mattias Janmark all getting on the board with some important goals recently.
We’ll see if they can at least tie the record tomorrow night as the Bruins come to town. Gametime is set for 8 pm MT on Sportsnet.