With a nailbiting 3–2 overtime win over the Detroit Red Wings Thursday, the Edmonton Oilers have won their ninth game in a row, thus tying the franchise record.
The Oilers have won nine straight games on two separate occasions. The first time was from February 20 to March 13, 2001, and the second was last season from March 27 to April 13, 2023.
So the fact that the franchise record was tied last season and now the Oilers have tied it again now between December and January, means that there has been a franchise-record winning streak in five of the past seven months hockey is normally played in. If the trend stays true, we will undoubtedly see one from November to December next year as well!
The Oilers won eight straight from November 24 to December 12 but couldn’t muster one more for the tie, but having two lengthy win streaks in short order has made them a whopping 17–3–0 in their last 20 games.
These two streaks have certainly helped the Oilers climb out of the hole they dug themselves with a disastrous start of the season. The team is now 22–15–1 and holding down the first wild card spot. They are also only two points behind the Los Angeles Kings
You get a point! You get a point! Every Oiler gets a point!
Scoring has been key to this streak (well duh).
To no one’s surprise, Connor McDavid leads the team during this streak, posting 15 points in the nine games. Zach Hyman has continued his hot season as well, scoring eight goals during this span (and has had two called back in true Hyman style) along with four assists for 12 points.
The real surprises and a big reason for the streak are Warren Foegele and Ryan McLeod.
After being elevated to second line duties with Leon Draisaitl, both players have posted nine points in the nine games, tying their new linemate.
The creation of this second line has given the Oilers the ability to separate Draisaitl and McDavid, and force teams to have to choose which one to set their best defenders against.
Ryan Nugent-Hopkins has also posted nine points during the streak, meaning every single member of the Oilers top-six is at a point per game.
On defence, Evan Bouchard has seven points while Darnell Nurse and Mattias Ekholm both have six (including Nurse’s game-winner to extend the win streak to nine).
The Oilers have outscored their opponents by more than double during this time, with 37 goals for (plus one shootout goal) and 16 goals against.
Goaltending has come around, too
Scoring has been huge, but only allowing 16 goals in nine games is pretty good too.
Stuart Skinner has been fantastic in this stretch, boasting a 0.950 save percentage on the 180 shots he has faced in his six starts. An average of 30 shots faced a game shows that it hasn’t just been the team in front of him that has been defensively dominant, but that Skinner is earning his share of the credit for this streak.
Calvin Pickard has also been excellent, winning all three of his games, stopping 66 of the 73 shots he has faced for a 0.904 save percentage (it was 0.911 before the latest game).
So overall, the team as a whole has been performing. The question now is, are they overperforming, are they playing the way they should, or is it somewhere in between? Only time will tell.
The Oilers face the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday to see if they can set a new franchise record.
Photo by Ric Tapia/Icon Sportswire
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