Oilers are peaking at the right time

I don’t know about you, but I’m liking the way the Oilers have been playing as of late. Right now they’re the hottest team in the Pacific division with an 8-1-1 record in their last 10. The Oilers have seven games left in the season so 14 points are still up for grabs.

Even more impressive are two other important facts:

1) They’re achieving statement wins over critical opponents

Timing is everything in the NHL, especially team efforts at the end of the season. You want to head into the playoffs playing your best hockey, and although the Oilers are not necessarily there yet they’re very close.

This includes critical wins over teams they’re trying to catch in the standings.

The Oilers are on a run right now, and they couldn’t have picked a better time to do it. They won a critical game over the Seattle Kraken on March 18 to increase their cushion to three points over them and retain third place in the division. Had the Oilers lost that game they’d have slid back into the first wildcard spot and lost third place in the division to the Kraken.

The Kraken have since imploded a bit, only going a tepid 4-4-2 in their last 10, and this in combination with the Oilers winning streak has effectively put the Kraken in the rearview mirror as they’re not seven points on top of them. The Kraken are not mathematically eliminated from third place but would need to win at least four games and the Oilers lose at least four games to regain third place in the division. Considering the momentum both teams have right now, I wouldn’t count on that if I was Seattle.

Then yesterday (March 28 at the time of this writing), the Oilers came through with another statement win over Vegas, 7-4, which put them but a single point under LA for second place in the division and home-ice advantage in the playoffs, and only three points behind Vegas for first place in the division. Without that win, Vegas’s lead would’ve increased to seven points thus putting the division lead largely out of reach since they’re doing almost as well as the Oilers have been as of late.

They’ll have another statement game tomorrow against LA where they can snatch second place in the division if they win – but if they can handle Seattle and Vegas I have no doubt they can handle LA too.

2) The Edmonton Oilers can beat opponents in different ways

The same team that chased Jonathan Quick from the nets in Vegas with six goals scored (seven in total) has also locked down a win by holding the Boston Bruins down to only two goals – and that’s a team with almost as much firepower in their lineup as the Oilers do. Boston’s only had 12 losses all season, and it’s very satisfying to know the Oilers beat them in their own barn.

They have the defensive acumen to beat teams by locking things down, or they can beat teams by outscoring their mistakes. They also have the size to beat opponents by outhitting them as well.

This is a skill that will come in handy in the playoffs.