Sweet 16: Will the Edmonton Oilers ever lose again?
Sweet 16 #Sweet16
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Published Jan 27, 2024 • Last updated 1 hour ago • 3 minute read
Zach Hyman (18) of the Edmonton Oilers, can’t handle the rebound in front of goalie Kevin Lankinen(32) of the Nashville Predators at Rogers Place in Edmonton on Jan.27, 2024. Photo by Shaughn Butts /Postmedia
It’s official: The Edmonton Oilers might never lose again.
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Or, if they lose again it will be because they got screwed by the refs.
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OK, maybe that’s a little ambitious, even for the second-hottest regular season team in hockey history, but after 16 wins in a row, you kind of run out of reasons to believe this thing isn’t going to last a long time.
They aren’t going to win ‘em all (you can’t, apparently), but the characteristics and habits of a team that knows what it’s doing are taking deep root.
The latest piece of evidence came in the form of Edmonton’s 4-1 win Saturday afternoon against the Nashville Predators, another complete and convincing effort in which they choked the life out of the other guys like a python finishing off a rat.
The Oilers ran the table in January (11-0) and closed out their schedule before the All-Star game/bye-week hiatus by winning their last four games by a combined scored of 14-3. They’re 24-3 in their last 27 and goaltender Stuart Skinner is 19-2 in this last 21 starts and has 12 wins in a row.
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Everything is going right. Even when not everything is going right.
“With the amount of games we have left I’m guessing we’re probably going to lose again,” laughed the Oilers goaltender, who made 29 saves in the win. “(Former Canadiens goalie) Carey Price said this in an interview once: It’s never as bad as it is and it’s really never as good, either. That’s super true. It seems like we can never lose again, like we’re on top of the world, but there are still a lot of things we need to dial in on the ice.
“It’s nice that we are winning and things are going well but there are things we need to keep getting better at.”
The win ties them with the 2016-17 Columbus Blue Jackets for the second-longest streak in NHL history, one game behind the 1992-92 Pittsburgh Penguins.
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“It’s special, it takes a lot of good efforts and a lot of good games to get to that number,” said Leon Draisaitl, who had a goal and two assists in the win.
“We’ve been a bit sloppy the last three games but have obviously had some individual performances that have gotten us the wins. You need that sometimes. It’s been a great stretch for us.”
The question heading into the matinee start was simple: would the Oilers be fired up and determined to win their last game before a nine-day break, or with their bags packed and evening flights booked to somewhere sunny, would they lose focus?
The answer was a carbon copy of their previous 15 wins. A 1-0 lead after 20 minutes on a goal from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, a 2-0 lead after 40 on a goal from Draisaitl and singles from Connor McDavid and Zach Hyman in the third.
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“It’s exciting, it’s a great run,” said McDavid, who finished with a goal and three assists for seven points in his last two games. “This past week wasn’t our best hockey and we found a way to get three wins, which is a great sign.
“We’ve gotten great goaltending, the back end has been good, the (penalty) kill has been amazing, those are all good things.”
Skinner lost his shutout bid with 6:35 to play in the third period on a goalmouth scramble. It was Edmonton’s first goal against in 158 minutes.
“It’s been really impressive,” he said. “It’s been a lot of fun being able to be on the back end of these things. We did everything we could to keep the puck out of our net.”
PERRY GOOD START
Corey Perry made his Oilers debut to warm applause and needed about five seconds on his first shift to crash the goal, hack the goalie, draw a scrum and knock the net off its moorings.
“I had no issues,” he said. “I put a lot of work in getting back to this spot and I felt good.”
LATE HITS — The second-period power-play goal is the 800th point of Draisaitl’s career. He is the fourth-fastest Oiler to 800 points behind Wayne Gretzky, Jari Kurri and Connor McDavid. … Nugent-Hopkins moved past Glenn Anderson into fourth place on the Oilers all-time games played list with his 846th game.
E-mail: rtychkowski@postmedia.com
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