Oilers turning season around with 8-game winning streak

EDMONTON -- The Edmonton Oilers have an opportunity to match a franchise record for most consecutive wins when they host the Tampa Bay Lightning at Rogers Place on Thursday (9 p.m. ET; SN1, SNE, BSSUN).

Edmonton is on an eight-game winning streak, the longest in the NHL this season, and would tie a franchise high with a win against Tampa Bay. Edmonton won nine consecutive games last season from March 27 to April 13, and also did it during the 2000-2001 season, from Feb. 20, 2001 to March 13, 2001. 

The longest winning streak during their five championship seasons was eight, which they did three times in 1983-84 on their way to their first Stanley Cup win and twice in 1984-85, when they won their second.

“That would be amazing of course, but we’re in no position to look that far,” Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl said Wednesday. “We have to take this one game at a time, and continue to get better, continue to build. I think that’s where our mindset is at right now.”

The Oilers have been able to climb out of a hole in the NHL standings on the strength of their eight consecutive wins and are within a point of the Arizona Coyotes for the second Wild Card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference. 

Edmonton (13-12-1) fell into a tie for last in the NHL standings with a 2-9-1 start, which led to the firing of coach Jay Woodcroft and assistant Dave Manson on Nov. 12. The two were replaced by coach Kris Knoblauch and Hall of Fame defenseman Paul Coffey. The Oilers are 10-3-0 with Knoblauch and Coffey behind the bench.

“Any time you win it is fun, and it is fun doing it the right way, with the goals against and limiting chances and things like that,” Oilers forward Zach Hyman said following a 4-1 win against the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday. “That’s the key to success and is something we have harped on and is the reason we are on this little run. We kind of got away from it a little bit at first; we were kind of trading chances up and down the ice. We knew that if we got back to doing things the way that we have been doing it, the right way, and holding on to pucks and securing both blue lines, we would be in a good spot.”

An upper-body injury to captain Connor McDavid in a 3-2 overtime loss to the Winnipeg Jets on Oct. 21 hindered the Oilers. McDavid missed the next two games -- a 7-4 loss at the Minnesota Wild and 3-0 loss to the New York Rangers -- before returning for the 2023 Tim Hortons NHL Heritage Classic outdoor game against the Calgary Flames on Oct. 29. 

McDavid had an assist in the 5-2 win, but managed just one assist in his next five games as he seemed to be battling the lingering effects of the injury.

The five-time Art Ross Trophy winner as NHL leading scorer appears to be back to his former self with 25 points (six goals, 19 assists) on a current 10-game point streak. McDavid, the reigning Hart Trophy winner as NHL most valuable player, went from 126th in the scoring race Nov. 11, to seventh with 38 points (10 goals, 28 assists) in 24 games.

With McDavid back to 100 percent health, everything else started falling into place for the Oilers, who were considered Stanley Cup contenders going into the season. 

“I think we just simplified it a little bit early on in our winning streak, and then our confidence just kind of came back and you can see guys not gripping their sticks as much and taking a breath and just playing hockey, really,” Draisaitl said. “So much of this game is in your head and when you get off to a bad start, it just spirals on you. We obviously went through that. It was a great job by everyone pulling ourselves out of it, but there is lots of work left to be done.”

Knoblauch said Wednesday he breaks down the season internally into eight-game segments and told the Oilers they needed to win five of eight to get back in the playoff hunt. The eight consecutive wins concluded the latest segment and the next begins against the Lightning.

“One (eight-game winning) streak was nice and two would be even better,” Knoblauch said. “Obviously, we want to win as many as we can. We won those eight games, put those behind us, enjoyed it and obviously think about what we needed to do to accomplish that. But we’re starting a new eight-game segment and we want to look our next opponent and look short term.”

With their focus on getting back into the playoff race, the Oilers only recently became aware they were on the verge of equaling a franchise record with a victory, which would give them an opportunity to break it against the Florida Panthers on Saturday in the last of a six-game homestand.  

“I just knew about that franchise record (Tuesday) afternoon, but I think it’s something to feel good about especially with all the winning this organization has done before,” Knoblauch said. “But I think that’s just minor compared to what we want to accomplish. I think it is something to feel good about, but I think there is more that we have our eyes set on.”