The Florida Panthers' 4-1 loss to the Minnesota Wild on Saturday meant that the Edmonton Oilers will enter their third week of regular-season action as the last team in this year's NHL without a defeat in 60 minutes.
Last season, the Avalanche went eight games without a regulation loss before the Boston Bruins handed them a 3-2 loss in their ninth game of the season.
With a trio of games scheduled for the Oilers this week, the team will have a chance to match that run of form.
Before we delve into those three games, let's recap the Oilers' Week 2 action.
The Oilers opened their two-game slate last week with a contest against the Anaheim Ducks. Despite falling behind 2-0 in the first 20 minutes, the Oilers capitalized on a five-goal second period to change the story of the game and earn another massive two points against a division rival.
The team ended their week with a 3-1 win over the San Jose Sharks that saw them outlast a determined effort stemming from Macklin Celebrini's return to the lineup.
Who are the Oilers playing this week?
The Oilers have three games scheduled for the upcoming week.
The first of those games will see the Oilers take on the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday in what will be the first head-to-head encounter between these two teams this season. The Oilers went 1-1-1 against the Kings last season, with the lone win against the Kings last season coming in the form of an 8-1 blowout win.
After that, the Oilers will contest their second home-and-home series of the season against the Utah Mammoth. The first game will take place on Thursday in Edmonton, while the second leg will take place on Saturday in Salt Lake City. Edmonton's only win against the Mammoth last year was a 5-2 road victory in late-March.
What should fans expect?
Like how the goaltending became a major point of concern in the Oilers' opening three-game slate, it will once again become a topic of emphasis this week, particularly as the Oilers look to build on a mostly-positive first five games of the season.
Such is especially true when considering that the Mammoth have been off to a bit of a rollercoaster start. On one hand, they've scored at least four goals in four of their first six games; they did so by defeating the Chicago Blackhawks 6-0 and then the Columbus Blue Jackets 4-1 to open the season on a 2-0-0 run. The third game that saw the Mammoth score at least four goals came against the New Jersey Devils, which saw the team win a high-scoring contest by a 5-3 margin. Their most recent performance of that nature saw them defeat the Buffalo Sabres by a 4-1 scoreline.
On the other hand, the Mammoth have had the tendency to give up a boatload of goals; three of their last four games have seen the Mammoth concede at least three goals. Besides the Devils game, they gave up four goals in a 4-2 loss to the New York Rangers before dropping a 6-1 decision to the Bruins.
The Oilers will therefore view the home-and-home series with the Mammoth as an opportunity to cement Devon Levi and Tristan Jarry as legitimate goaltending options for the season. Even with positive performances against the Kraken and the Ducks in mind, two games don't necessarily make the difference in turning the Oilers' goaltending unit, long plagued by individual struggles, around for good. The same goes for Jarry; even though he helped guide Edmonton to their fourth consecutive victory, the sting of a poor season-opener will still require some effort to fully extinguish.
Given the Mammoth's own issues in that department to open the season, the Oilers could put themselves on track for a sweep of the home-and-home series simply by putting another pair of positive goaltending performances together.
To an extent, the same goes for the Kings. The Kings opened their season with two not-so-great defensive performances, losing 8-4 to the Colorado Avalanche and 5-4 to the San Jose Sharks, but the defense has clamped down; despite having failed to win a game through their first four attempts, the Kings only lost 2-1 to the Florida Panthers on Tuesday and secured an overtime point against the Vegas Golden Knights on Saturday.
The Kings have the ability to match the goaltending performance on the other end of the ice - in fact, Darcy Kuemper started the Kings' last two games and recorded .930 save percentages in both - which will only ramp up the emphasis on the Oilers' goaltending. But both Levi and Jarry had solid performances last week, which should instill a sense of confidence and stability behind the Oilers' skaters.
As for how this week could end up going, a 2-1-0 record seems to be quite feasible at minimum. There is always the chance that the Oilers get goalie'd at least once this week, but the Oilers have the ability to achieve the same thing the other way. On top of that, both the Kings and Mammoth have been prone to giving up significant amounts of goals either at once or across a series of matches, which should allow some optimism should the goaltending falter. But the Oilers will be hard-pressed to prevent any goaltending downturn, especially considering that the Vancouver Canucks were able to be extremely competitive in two high-scoring encounters with the Oilers to open the season.
If the goaltending maintains its positive momentum, the Oilers should find themselves in position to put together another few wins this week.
Add us as a preferred source on Google