The Edmonton Oilers lost back-to-back games for the first time this season in December. With losses to the Seattle Kraken and Los Angeles Kings, the Oilers are officially on a two-game losing streak.
So far this season the Oilers have lost just seven games, they are one of the top teams in the conference and are leading the pack around the league. The past week has not been that great though.
The team has won three of their last six games, but have seen a lot of notable players miss time with injuries like Darnell Nurse, Duncan Keith, and Cody Ceci – three of the team’s top defencemen. Nurse played against the Kings on Sunday and hopefully the lineup tonight will be good to go against the Wild.
While the past few games have not been great, the team still has a heck of a duo leading the NHL with Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid sitting at 43 and 42 points so far on the year. Here is an interesting fact about how good they are doing offensively:
An urgent update on the scoring race: The Coyotes, with one goal tonight, have overtaken Connor McDavid in hockey’s biggest race.
— Scott Wheeler (@scottcwheeler) December 7, 2021
Here’s where things stand:
Arizona Coyotes goals: 43
Connor McDavid points: 42
McDavid has one game in hand. All eyes are on him tomorrow night.
Edmonton is shorthanded right now, with injuries to some key players including netminder Mike Smith. So while it is hard to watch the team kind of just get by right now, at least it is going to lead to something at the end of the day once the entire lineup is back together.
The Wild are going to be a very capable opponent tonight they are on a six-game win streak and are near the top of the league in goals for this season with 92 in their first 24 games, which comes out to about 3.8 or 4 goals per game. This definitely is going to be an offensive showdown tonight, and if that is the case I like the chances the Oilers have to match up against the Wild!
The fact that it took until December for the Oilers to lose back-to-back games is something the team can be proud of, but now the goal needs to be getting back in the win column tonight against the Minnesota Wild, otherwise this losing streak could build up some momentum.