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No Need For Edmonton Oilers To Sound The Alarm

By Devon Hladunewich

Apr 29, 2023; Los Angeles, California, USA; Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid (97) celebrates his goal scored against the Los Angeles Kings with defenseman Mattias Ekholm (14) and defenseman Evan Bouchard (2) during the first period in game six of the first round of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 29, 2023; Los Angeles, California, USA; Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid (97) celebrates his goal scored against the Los Angeles Kings with defenseman Mattias Ekholm (14) and defenseman Evan Bouchard (2) during the first period in game six of the first round of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports /
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There is a high sense of fear and concern surrounding the Edmonton Oilers 0-2 start so far this season. It is a little concerning how they played the first game, but last night’s game was much better. They only need to improve in a couple of areas as opposed to the first game where everything was terrible.

Even though fans are right to be a bit concerned about the start the Edmonton Oilers are having it is no reason to sound the alarm quite yet. I took a look back at the last five Stanely Cup Champions and took a look at how their first 5 games went.

The five teams are the 22-23 Vegas Golden Knights, 21-22 Colorado Avalanche, 20-21 and 19-20 Tampa Bay Lightning and the 18-19 St. Louis Blues. Between these 5 seasons not a single team won all 5 games. In fact, a majority of them were below 0.500% in the first 5 games

22-23 Vegas Golden Knights

The Golden Knights eliminated the Edmonton Oilers this season in the second round of the playoffs then went on to win the Stanely Cup. I believe if the Edmonton Oilers had won that series they also would have won the cup, but that is a different story.

The Golden Knight has the best first five regular season record on this list. In their first 5 games, they had a record of 4-1. The teams they beat were the Kings, Blackhawks, Kraken and the Jets. The lone loss came against the Calgary Flames.

21-22 Colorado Avalanche

Just like the Golden Knights, the Avalanche defeated the Edmonton Oilers on their way to hoisting the Stanley Cup. The series wasn’t as close for the Edmonton Oilers though as Colorado swept them in 4 straight games.

The Avalanche in 2021 started their first 5 games with a record of 2-3. They were able to beat the Blackhawks in regulation and the Lightning in a shootout. Their losses were against the Blues, Capitals and Panthers.

20-21 Tampa Bay Lightning

After winning the Stanley Cup the year before you would think the Tampa Bay Lightning would have come into the season slightly tired and lose more games at the start of the year. That was not the case as they faired well in their first 5 games.

After the five games this team had a record of 3-1-1. They actually won their first 3 games of the season. Make note this was the COVID year so they played mini-series against teams to limit travel.

The games they won were against Chicago twice and Columbus in overtime. They also lost to the Blue Jackets once and then to the Hurricanes in overtime as well.

19-20 Tampa Bay Lightning

This was the season that was cut short by COVID so the first 5 games actually ended up meaning more than in a normal season. This is weird because they actually had a worse start than their other cup-winning team.

Going 2-2-1 the Lightning got half of the available 10 points that were up for grabs. They were able to beat the Leafs and Panthers, but they also lost to the Panthers as well as the Senators and they were also beaten by the Hurricanes in overtime.

18-19 St. Louis Blues

This is the team the Edmonton Oilers fans of today need to look at and think it’s okay we can still win the cup. This Blues team had the worst start of the teams on this list. They only got one win in their first 5 games and had a record of 1-2-2.

Even though two of their losses got them a point they were only able to rack up 4 points in their first 5 games. They lost to the Jets and Ducks in regulation and the Blackhawks twice in overtime. Their only win came against the Calgary Flames.

If the Edmonton Oilers continue to struggle they can use this Blues team as motivation to prove it can be done.

23-24 Edmonton Oilers

This team has already lost their first two regular season in regulation and have 0 points. The Edmonton Oilers head out on a road trip where hopefully they can turn things around and get the ball rolling. As much as it is a long season, there is a point where you dig yourself too big of a hole to get out of.

I do expect the Edmonton Oilers to turn the ship around and to get back in the win column and keep adding to those, but till they do I don’t think many Edmonton Oilers fans will be sleeping well.

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