The Edmonton Oilers have made things almost unnecessarily difficult for themselves in recent weeks, as evidenced by losing to the likes of the Detroit Red Wings, and only just holding on for a win against the lowly Buffalo Sabres. As a result, they had a record of just 4-3-1 in their eight games prior to Wednesday night's game in Chicago.
It was more of the same for the Oilers against the team with the second-fewest points in the NHL, as they gave up a 3-1 lead late in the third period against the Blackhawks and were forced to go to overtime. Fortunately for everyone concerned, Connor McDavid set Zach Hyman up beautifully, to score the winning goal and secure both points in an 4-3 important road win.
With the victory, the Oilers now give themselves some minor breathing space in first place in the Pacific Division and second place in the Western Conference overall. However, this was also a special game for coach Kris Knoblauch specifically, as it represented his 80th regular season win in the NHL.
Kris Knoblauch in some impressive company
Of even more significance, as per Tyler Kuehl of the Daily Faceoff, Knobauch achieved his 80 wins in just 123 games, which is the third-fastest rate in league history. The only NHL coaches to achieve the 80-win mark quicker, are Tom Johnson in 111 games with the Boston Bruins, and Mike Keenan in 116 games while in charge of the Philadelphia Flyers.
This is just the latest milestone in what has truly been a remarkable run for Knoblauch since taking over in Edmonton last season from the unfortunate Jay Woodcroft. The campaign was highlighted by a 16-game winning streak which was the second-longest in NHL history, and then taking the Oilers all the way to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final, where the just lost 2-1 to the Florida Panthers.
As we wrote about at the time, earlier this season Knoblauch reached his 100th game in charge with a 64-29-7 record, which represented a .675 winning percentage which was the second-best all time through the century mark for an NHL head coach. For the Oilers specifically he has a .687 winning percentage through Wednesday night which is the best in team history, while his 80 wins already have him up in sixth place and just 15 behind Dave Tippett for fifth position.
Kris Knoblauch sticks up for the Oilers players
As for Knoblauch himself, he was more focused on the actual game itself, with him taking time to both credit the Blackhawks, but also defend his players. As per Jamie Umbach of NHL.com, he said:
"Overall, I think a lot of credit to them. I thought they played hard and we're playing a back-to-back, so they had the jump. They were much quicker than we were for most of the night and we had a good push in the first 10 minutes of the third period. Then, as soon as we made it 3-1, they came at us and forced us to turn over pucks a couple of times on the breakouts, and those led to some scoring chances, obviously one against on the power play. It's a long season. It's not fair to think that we're going to be 100 percent every night."
That the Oilers can still pick up points even when not playing at their best, speaks volumes about the talent on the team, but also who is coaching them. You get the feeling there are plenty more milestones and achievements to come during Knoblauch's tenure in Edmonton.
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