3 Things To Watch For During Edmonton Oilers Last 10 Games
The Edmonton Oilers have pretty much locked up their playoff spot as one of the top 3 teams in the Pacific Division. I believe the only question right now is which spot they will finish in. They could finish anywhere from third in the Pacific all the way to the top of the entire Western Conference.
The Oilers have only 10 games left in the regular season. That is not very many games when you compare it to a whole 82-game season. It is amazing that there is still so much potential for where they can finish in the standings.
| GP | W | L | OL | PTS | PTS% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vegas Golden Knights | 72 | 45 | 21 | 6 | 96 | .667 |
| Los Angeles Kings | 71 | 41 | 20 | 10 | 92 | .648 |
| Edmonton Oilers | 72 | 41 | 23 | 8 | 90 | .625 |
| Seattle Kraken | 71 | 39 | 24 | 8 | 86 | .606 |
Provided by Hockey-Reference.com:
Generated 3/25/2023.
With only 10 or 11 games left in the season for these 4 teams, there are a lot of changes that could happen. It’s nice to see this much parody in the league. The fact that the Edmonton Oilers could finish first in the Pacific if they stay hot or they could finish 4th if they struggle.
If I was able to place a bet on it I would say they are more likely to finish first. The Edmonton Oilers are going to be healthy and have a better team post-deadline and the team chemistry appears to be at a season-high right now.
Not to mention Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins are looking to hit landmark numbers. McDavid is looking for 70 goals, Draisaitl 50 goals and Nuge 100 points. The rest of the team is going to try and help these three get these numbers.
They are already the top-scoring team in the NHL and I would expect to see their goals/per game go even higher down the stretch in order to get these accomplishments completed. I just hope they don’t focus on it too much and start over-pass.
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Not only is there the standings to keep an eye on there are other things within the team that Oiler fan need to keep an eye on. Here are three things that Edmonton Oilers fans should keep an eye on as this team finished the home stretch of their season.
The Battle For First In The Pacific Division
As I mentioned in the previous slide, for me one of the most important things remaining to watch the remained of the season for Edmonton Oilers fans is the race in the Pacific Division. This is the tightest I have seen this race in a long time.
It is a battle of good teams as well. For some reason, there is the narrative that this division is the weakest in the NHL, but clearly, the people that say that haven’t looked at the past 10 for the Golden Knights(8-2-0), Kings(8-0-2) and the Oilers(8-2-0). These are the best records in that time in the whole NHL.
This is a double-edged sword for the teams in the division though. These three teams are all trying to end up with first place in the division, but no one is making any headway cause the other two teams are doing equally as well.
The advantage for the Edmonton Oilers is they will be in charge of their own fate when it comes to catching the Golden Knights and Kings. They have two games against each other remaining. Including one tonight against the Vegas Golden Knights. This allows them to gain 4 points while burning up two games for each opponent.
The fact they play against them is also a double-edged sword. If the Edmonton Oilers lose even one of the games against either the Kings or Golden Knights it will put them in a spot where it will be impossible to pass them. The Oilers are already behind each team, losing 2 points and a game would be a big blow to them.
The rest of the schedule is against teams lower in the standings as well. If you take out the Kings and Golden Knights games they only have one game against a team that is currently in a playoff spot. That would be the Colorado Avalanche on April 11th.
There is a good chance that if the Oilers win against their division rivals they could finish first in the Pacific and not have to play either the Kings or the Knights. I think that would be a huge advantage to have one of them take the other out in the first round.
How Does Jay Woodcroft Use Edmonton Oilers Defense?
Since the acquisition Mattias Ekholm around the trade deadline the Edmonton Oilers now have two stud defensemen that can just devour hard minutes. This is something the Oilers haven’t had in a very long time.
The fact that the Edmonton Oilers have a solid top 2 is something they were missing last year. No offence to Tyson Barrie, but Ekholm is a much better defender so the trade was a huge upgrade in that regard. The trade also moved Kulak to the third pair where he plays mostly with Vincent Desharnais.
This means the third pairing isn’t an all-rookie pairing. Before the trade, it was Broberg and Desharnias as the third pairing. That isn’t the end of the world in the regular season when there isn’t much as far as line matching and high-pressure plays go. In the playoffs, it would be a much different story.
That is why I think what Woodcroft does down the stretch is a thing to keep an eye on. Not so much for what pairings he has, but when you utilize each pairing. The current pairings he is using are what I think they will be for game one of the playoffs.
Nurse- Ceci
Ekholm- Bouchard
Kulak- Desharnias
I think we can all agree that the Kulak/Desharnias pairing is the third pair, it is the other two I want to see how they get used down the stretch. There are a couple of important games against the Kings and Golden Knights left. I expect Woodcroft to treat these games like playoff games as far as strategies go.
If Nurse gets the top forward line of these teams then I would expect Nurse to see them in the playoffs as well. If he doesn’t see them as much going down the stretch, then I would assume that Woodcroft would look at Ekholm as his number-one shutdown guy now.
I don’t think there is really a bad choice either way, it is just nice as an Edmonton Oilers fan to have more than just one option. We went right from only Klefbom to only Nurse, there wasn’t ever an overlap.
Can Stuart Skinner Keep Playing Like A Number One?
So far this season Stuart Skinner has been the number-one goalie for the Edmonton Oilers. Going into the season Jack Campbell was supposed to be that guy, but with his struggles, Skinner has jumped up a grabbed the opportunity.
The thing for the Edmonton Oilers the last few years is they never needed an All-Star calibre goalie they just needed a goalie that was consistent and would give you the same game every game. Not a roller coaster, which is what the Edmonton Oilers had with Smith and Koskinen.
They now have the All-Star goalie in Stuart Skinner. He has shown so far this season that he can be consistent. He only had one dip when he came back after missing a few games with the birth of his child. That could be blamed on not playing in a while though.
Aside from that little blip he has been the goalie the Edmonton Oilers have needed. The question with the extra pressure of the stretch run and having must-win games on the schedule is whether he is able to keep this play going.
I am not worried about him getting tired as his start number is still fairly low, I am worried about what happens if he struggles and the Edmonton Oilers need to start Jack Campbell. We have seen glimpses of good Campbell this season, but to my earlier point, we had seen glimpses of good Koskinen as well.
The final 10 games start tonight as the Oilers host the Golden Knights. This is a good chance for them to gain 2 points on Vegas. If they gain these two points then they will only 4 points back. This is the best time of year to be an NHL fan. It is even better to be an Edmonton Oilers fan cause you get to watch McDavid for 10 more games. Will he get to 70 goals? Only time will tell.