The Edmonton Oilers will have a favourable home-ice matchup on Thursday night as they seek to extend a sensational stretch of the season that has them sitting on a 14-game winning streak.
The Oilers (27-15-1), currently third in the NHL’s Pacific Division, take on a young and injury-riddled Chicago Blackhawks team (14-32-2) that currently holds the eighth spot in the Central Division.
Many Edmonton hockey fans likely bought tickets to the game with the intention of watching rookie sensation Connor Bedard play at Rogers Place, but he is among a long list of Chicago players currently forced on the sidelines because of injuries.
The Oilers have been setting new franchise records on their current winning streak.
A 4-1 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday night marked the hockey club’s 14th-straight win, and goaltender Stuart Skinner earned a team record 11th-consecutive win, eclipsing the previous record set by Oilers legend Grant Fuhr in the 1980s.
Saturday’s 3-1 win over the Calgary Flames set a new winning streak record for Canadian-based NHL teams.
As the club aims for a 15th win in a row Thursday, hockey fans and commentators are noticing the Oilers are quickly approaching the overall NHL record of 17-straight wins set by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 1992-93 season.
“We’ve got great leaders in this room and I think guys have been buying into that, and that’s one thing that’s really helped us go on this streak,” Oilers forward Warren Foegele said after the Blue Jackets game on Tuesday night.
Foegele’s scoring is up significantly lately and he is seeing more and more time on the team’s top forward lines.
While the winning streak is the result of contributions from every corner of the Oilers’ lineup, many players have noted that Skinner’s remarkable play in net has not gone unnoticed.
Over the past 10 games, the Oilers are scoring an average of 3.7 goals per game but only giving up an average of 1.5 goals per game.
“In moments where we haven’t had our best hockey … (Skinner) has stepped up and kept it manageable and kept us in the game,” Oilers forward Evander Kane said of the team’s No. 1 netminder on Tuesday night.
In that same 10-game time frame, Oilers centre Leon Draisaitl has also been particularly impressive, scoring six goals and providing eight assists.
After a team practice on Thursday, Draisaitl said he is pleased the team has “been playing some good hockey lately,” even when things haven’t gone perfectly.
He noted that before scoring enough goals in the third period to win over the Blue Jackets on Tuesday, the first two periods were some of the worst the team has played in some time.
“We knew we had to regroup … (and) didn’t want the streak to end there,” he told reporters.
“That’s also what good teams do sometimes. We didn’t have it the first 40 minutes and then we turned it on and ended up winning the game … Sometimes that’s just the way it is.”
Speaking with reporters at Rogers Place on Thursday, Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch also acknowledged “there’s going to be downs or just times where we’re not playing our best,” and referenced the Blue Jackets game.
“It’s a long season and there’s always going to be times when we’re not perfect,” he said. “A lot of the credit should be given to the opposition and how they’re playing.
“Just because a team’s down in the standings doesn’t mean it should be easy for the team that’s winning games.”
Despite all the attention the Oilers’ winning streak is generating amongst fans and media, Knoblauch said he believes his players have been “doing a pretty good job on staying in the now.”
“We just want to be in the present,” he said. “‘How are we going to win this game tonight?'”
Oilers forward Sam Gagner played for the Blue Jackets during the the 2016-17 season, when that team won 16 games in a row.
He told reporters Thursday that there were some differences in how that streak was perceived by the Blue Jackets then and how the Oilers are viewing theirs now, because the Oilers got off to such a dreadful start this season.
“We’re in a position where we had a tough start and we need every game we can get,” he said. “We’re not focused too much on the streak … (we’re focusing) on putting wins together one game at a time.
“We still have a lot of work to do.”
But Gagner noted the two impressive win streaks also have similarities.
“We got great goaltending throughout that entire streak in Columbus, (and) we’re getting it here. Your depth needs to contribute, special teams, top guys — I think you need contributions all throughout your lineup, and we’re getting that.”
The Oilers come into Thursday’s game with a 14-6-1 record at home while the Blackhawks have a 4-21-1 record on the road.
Thursday night’s game will mark the third time this season that Edmonton has played against Chicago. The Oilers won 4-1 against the Blackhawks on Dec. 12 and earned a 2-1 victory over Chicago on Jan. 9.
You can listen to the game live on 630 CHED, beginning with The Faceoff Show at 5:30 p.m. The actual game at starts 7 p.m.
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