Oilers: Divisional matchups matter a little more throughout the season

The Edmonton Oilers have won both of their first two games of the 2021-22 season. Winning those matchups meant a little more having come against divisional rivals.

The road to the playoffs is through the division, especially for the Oilers.

Edmonton plays in one of the weaker divisions throughout the entire league, the Pacific Division. Led by the Vegas Golden Knights and the Edmonton Oilers, the Pacific is wide open when it comes to who will make the postseason.

Getting home-ice advantage is one of the big goals this season, as then there are no excuses for falling short. With 26 matchups against teams in the division, Edmonton has a lot of opportunities to capture some points.

Edmonton’s season so far has consisted of a win against the Vancouver Cancucks, and a win against the Calgary Flames. Both were fun to watch and more importantly started to create some separation in the standings between the Oilers and the other teams around.

26 games within the division, now if the Oilers take 15 of those games they would have 30 points on the board to making the postseason. More importantly, those wins would mean teams like Vegas or Vancouver are not capturing those points and getting a leg up on them in the standings.

Only three teams are guaranteed playoff spots this season, with more travel against teams outside of the division and the better competition in the east and central Edmonton needs to take advantage of any strength they can find, and the biggest one to see so far is an underwhelming division.

two of the next three games are against divisional opponents. Edmonton plays the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday, the underwhelming Ducks who will be pushing for a draft lottery pick. Then the Oilers play the Vegas Golden Knights on Friday after playing the night before against the Arizona Coyotes.

The game against the Golden Knights will be at the end of a busy week, but those points matter against the other top team in the division. Winning matchups like that is what changes the outcome of a season.