Pretty much as with last season, the Edmonton Oilers overcame a slow start in 2024-25 -- albeit not as poor -- and entered the Christmas break in a rich vein of form. However, just as renewed confidence in the team seemed to be justified, they received a reality check in the form of two straight defeats in California, including somehow losing 5-3 to the lowly Anaheim Ducks.
As much as no one will deny the Oilers standing as one of the (if not the) most talented teams in the NHL, they can still be infuriatingly inconsistent. And just to be clear, this has been a team-wide issue as opposed to just Stuart Skinner specifically, who gets a lot of individual criticism.
In any event, as the Oilers now approach the halfway point of their 2024-25 regular season schedule, every game is going to take on increased importance. All these lines, January will prove to be a pivotal month in terms of determing how this all plays out.
Home-ice advantage has to be the aim
The assumption is that the Oilers will make the playoffs, which is to be expected with the likes of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl leading the charge. However, even allowing for this, the team needs to improve their positioning in or order to put themselves in the best possible situation for a run at a second consecutive Stanley Cup Final appearance.
The Oilers will play 14 games during January, with an even split of seven at home and seven on the road. It's not particularly salient to point out the road games will be more challenging, and they could make all the difference between having home-ice advantage or not in the first round (and potentially beyond).
A challenging road stretch
However, making the road portion of the January schedule even more challenging, is the way they're laid out. This is because the seven games away from home will also represent seven out of eight games overall for the Oilers.
Following Friday night's 'revenge' clash with the Ducks, the Oilers will head out to the Pacific Northwest to face the Seattle Kraken the following evening. They then have to travel to Boston, Pittsburgh and Chicago, before returning back to Edmonton to host the Los Angeles Kings.
Then it's on the road again, to visit Minnesota and Colorado, before going back to the Pacific Northwest to take on the Vancouver Canucks. In all, the Oilers must play their seven road games (as well as the ones at home against the Ducks and Kings), over a span of just 16 days.
Quality opposition for the Oilers
Of the seven road games, at the time of writing four are against teams in a playoff spot, as well as the Pittsburgh Penguins, who are only one point out. Based on opposing home records alone, the Penguins and Boston Bruins figure to be the toughest task, with respective records of 11-7-2 and 12-6-2.
For their part the Oilers' record on the road this season isn't too bad to date even allowing for the recent California nightmare, at 9-5-2. For some context, last season they were 21-18-2 on their travels, although they did step it up in the playoffs by going 6-3 on the road, albeit before losing three of four in Florida when it mattered most.
Overall, even with there being 31 regular season games remaining at the conclusion of January, it will still prove to be an important month for the Oilers. We confidently predict they will remain in playoff contention, but they really do need to start moving up the Western Conference standings, otherwise a Pacific Division title could be out of reach given how well the Vegas Golden Knights are playing so far.