Monday night was seen as a significant moment in the Edmonton Oilers' season, as they prepared for a rematch with the team which stopped them winning it all last season. Unfortunately for everyone concerned, the outcome was the same as last June, with the Florida Panthers winning 6-5 in a hard-fought and absorbing contest.
You can make the case that the Oilers lost the game as opposed to the Panthers winning it, giving up a 4-2 lead through unnecessary but ultimately costly mistakes. In any event, the outcome served as a reminder that getting their hands on the Stanley Cup is going to require a lot to go right in the coming months.
The loss also ended -- at least temporarily -- the Oilers' recent momentum, which had seen them win eight of their previous nine games. This included a season-high five-game winning streak in Decemeber, after beginning the month with a frustrating 1-0 loss in Vegas.
What's in a month?
On the subject of December, this brings to mind the question of how the Oilers usually perform during the month as a whole? More to the point, does it give any indication of how the NHL season will play out in Edmonton?
To help answer this question, we've only gone back to the 2015-16 season. In respect of the relevance, even allowing for hockey being the very personification of a team sport, 2015-16 represents Connor McDavid's first season in the NHL.
As for answering the question, the reality is that there's little to be gained from reviewing December for each of the past nine years. That's because, for the most part, the Oilers are effectively a .500 team for the month.
Consider that between 2015-16 and 2022-23, the Oilers have a combined 42-41-13 record during December. For what it's worth, this includes the 2020-21 season, which had no games in December due to the impact of COVID-19 and meant the campaign did not start until January.
A 50-50 proposition with a winning record in December
For the seven seasons between 2015-16 and 2022-23 when there were games in December, the Oilers went on to make the playoffs on four occasions. Where the lack of clarification becomes even clearer -- yes, we appreciate this is a bit of a contradiction -- is when we look at the four seasons in question on an individual basis, which are 2016-17, 2019-20, 2021-22 and 2022-23.
Consider that the Oilers had winning records of 7-2-5 and 7-6-2 in 2016-17 and 2022-23 respectively for December. However, they also had losing records of 5-8-1 and 3-7-2 in 2019-20 and 2021-22 respectively for the same month.
Of course, we appreciate that statistics can often be manipulated to support any argument, and along these lines, bringing last season into the equation does make things slightly more positive overall for the Oilers. The team went 9-3-0 in 2023-24, which is the best December record so far in the McDavid era, and of course concluded with that ultimately heartbreaking trip to the Stanley Cup Final.
Turning to the current season, the Oilers have a record of 5-2-0 so far in December, with six games remaining in the month. Of course, only at season's end will we have a better idea of if December's results help determine how things play out, or if the month remains as unclear as it is at the moment.
Overall though, we don't anticipate Oilers fans being particularly concerned about how December does pan out. The reality is that this team has been to five consecutive postseasons and is probably going to make it six straight at the conclusion of this campaign.