BLOG: Oilers ready to run the gauntlet

EDMONTON, AB -The next two weeks will be a measuring stick for the Oilers to see how they stack up with the game's elite.
Edmonton is entering the heavyweight portion of their season, with the NHL leading Boston Bruins, the fourth place Toronto Maple Leafs, and the Central Division contending Winnipeg Jets each on the docket twice over the next seven games.
"It's going to be a good test, three really good teams. They're going to demand our best," Leon Draisaitl said about the upcoming gauntlet.
"It's a good stretch for us here. It's an important stretch standing wise, points wise, but also as a team," Ryan Nugent-Hopkins said. "When you're measuring yourself, you want to do that against good teams, and I've thought so far that we've done a good job of that this season. The next stretch is going to be important, and we need to be ready starting tomorrow."

The Oilers will start off with the Bruins on Monday night at Rogers Place - possibly the most daunting task for any NHL team this season. Boston has been running through their opponents thus far, with a 45-8-5 record and an absurd plus-95 goal differential. The Bruins .819 points percentage is currently .075 better than last year's President Trophy Winning Florida Panthers' .744 percentage.
The scope of their dominance is astounding as you dig even deeper into the numbers. The Bruins are three wins away from having enough points to qualify for the Eastern Conference playoffs last season -- Boston currently has 95 points and the Washington Capitals qualified for the final Wild Card spot with 100 in 2021-22 - and the Bruins still have 23 games remaining on their schedule.
The Oilers locker room knows the task at hand and are choosing to face it head on.
"Like I said, it's going to be a good challenge. Nothing to be afraid of," Draisaitl, who has scored in seven-consecutive games, said. "They're a good team, deep team. They're playing really well, but when we play our best, we're a hard team to handle as well. So that's going to be a fun matchup."

As Draisaitl alluded to, the Oilers have been no slouches themselves. Edmonton currently paces the entire National Hockey League in goals for, while they currently have the seventh-best goal differential, and are tied for seventh in regulation-or-overtime wins.
Oilers Head Coach Jay Woodcroft isn't focused as much on the Oilers next two-weeks as he is on the day's business.
"I think you go to strength of schedule I would say every day in the NHL you're getting a quality opponent and I think when you look at the scores around the NHL anybody can beat anybody on any given night," Woodcroft said. "As much as you have a macro point of view of where the schedule is at and where the team is at, I think when you put your emphasis on yourself on the micro, usually results take care of themselves. So today was a good day with that in mind, but we know who's coming in tomorrow."