Oilers back in playoff picture after recent win streak
The playoffs might not be too far out of reach for the Edmonton Oilers.
After a brutal 5-12-1 start to the season, the team has rattled off three straight wins to improve to 8-12-1 and pull within five points of a playoff spot. Right now, the team to catch is the Nashville Predators, who occupy the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference with 22 points.
In other words, you can’t quite count out Connor McDavid and the Oilers.
NHL.com
It looks like the team is starting to finally play up to its potential. Outside of McDavid, who has been scorching hot recently, the team is also seeing results from its other big guns. Perhaps the most important contributions are coming from Zach Hyman and Evander Kane, both of whom are on pace to set career highs in both goals and points.
The Oilers power play also seems to be rebounding from a rough start. Though the team will be hard-pressed to reach the record-setting 32.4% success rate from last season, the Oilers have converted on 41% of their power plays over the last four games.
The team has also been killing penalties at a much better rate under head coach Kris Knoblauch.
On the defensive end, improvement will still need to arise. At the start of this most recent win streak, the team had only limited opponents to two or fewer goals in four of its 18 games. Since then, the Oilers did have a pair of very sound defensive games with 5-0 and 8-2 wins over the Washington Capitals and Anaheim Ducks, respectively, but struggled to hold off the division-leading Vegas Golden Knights in a 5-4 shootout victory.
Goaltender Stuart Skinner has also shown better of late. The 25-year-old has been among the league’s worst starters all season, and although he’s getting better results, it is still an area that Oilers GM Ken Holland will need to address. Calling up veteran Jack Campbell from the AHL remains the easiest, and riskiest, solution to that problem.
All of that will be for naught if the team can’t continue to put points on the board. Edmonton’s next stretch of games will see them take on a Winnipeg Jets team on a two-game skid, a Carolina Hurricanes squad that spanked them last week, and perhaps the most disappointing NHL team outside of the Oilers in the Minnesota Wild.
It’s been an encouraging week for Oilers fans as they are finally, two months later than expected, getting a glimpse of the team they expected to hit the ice at Rogers Place this season.
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