Edmonton Oilers: Pacific Division After One Month

Calgary Flames(12 GP-7 W-2 L-3 OT)

After losing the first two games of the season the Calgary Flames went on a 6 game winning streak powered by the play of Jacob Markstrom. The Flames are currently 3rd in goal differential with +15. They are 8th in goals for and 3rd in goals against.

At the start of the season I did not think the Flames would have this much success. I also didn’t see Markstrom getting 4 shutouts in his 10 games played. Elias Lindholm and Andrew Mangiapane have also been a bit of a surprise. At the the start of the season if you predicted that Lindholm would be tied with the team lead in points, I would have questioned it.

San Jose Sharks(12 GP-7 W-4 L-1 OT)

An even bigger surprise for me than the Flames, the San Jose Sharks are off to a good start this season. I knew the addition of goaltending would improve the team, I just didn’t think it would improve this much. The distraction of Evander Kane is also no longer an issue for this team and I think that has also helped the team get better.

Personally I think this Sharks team still isn’t a playoff team. I think they are just off to a hot start and will come back to earth. That being said they have played good for 12 games and that has given them a solid amount of banked points in the standing to start the season.