The Oilers match the second-longest winning streak in NHL history with their 16th straight win

EDMONTON – It's amazing to think where the Edmonton Oilers were before this winning streak began.

Having just lost for the third straight time, the Oilers entered the Dec. 21 game in New Jersey at 13-15-1 — two games below the NHL's .500 mark.
The playoffs, while far from out of the question, certainly seemed sketchy.

Thanks to 16 straight wins — most recently a 4-1 decision over the Nashville Predators on Saturday — the perception of the Oilers has completely changed.

“I knew we were a good team,” forward Leon Draisaitl said. “When you lack confidence, that's more than 50 percent (of things) there. It's hard to come back from it.”

“Clearly we found that.”

The Oilers are on the cusp of matching what a team did with Mario Lemieux in his prime and Jaromir Jagr in just his third season in the NHL. They are tied with the 2016-17 Columbus Blue Jackets for the second-best winning streak in league annals.

They will have a chance to tie the 1992-93 Pittsburgh Penguins, who hold the NHL record, when they return from their bye week for a road game against the Vegas Golden Knights on February 6.

“We owe Vegas a good game in their building,” captain Connor McDavid said, referring to Game 5 of their second-round series last spring when the Oilers blew a lead in defeat.

“It's something to look forward to at the end of the break.”

The Oilers have been an absolute juggernaut for five weeks. What's even more promising is that they have excelled in areas unusual for previous success. The penalty was the third last in the NHL when coach Jay Woodcroft and assistant Dave Manson were ejected on November 12. They had the best PK in the league during the streak and wiped out all three of Nashville's games on Saturday.

They had the second-worst save percentage on the team when the coaching change happened. They are in the lead from December 22 onwards.

“I don’t know the last time a bad goal was scored,” said coach Kris Knoblauch, who has a 26-6 record behind the bench.

This combination of improvements — combined with much better defensive detail — has led to the Oilers allowing fewer than three goals in each of their last 14 games.

“We did it the right way,” Draisaitl said.

“It was really impressive,” goalkeeper Stuart Skinner said. “It's been a lot of fun to be on the back end of all that stuff.”

Oh, and the list of the top four five-on-five scorers during the series is as follows: McDavid and Warren Voegele are tied with 14 points, then Draisaitl with 13 and Ryan McLeod with 12 points.

They are two stars and two players who had great seasons.

“What makes this special is that it was accessible to everyone,” McDavid said. “Everyone was together pulling the rope. It wasn't one or two guys. It was the whole group.”

Throw in the final position of Corey Perry, a veteran who brings an offensive touch to accompany a disruptive style, and the Oilers look more Stanley Cup caliber by the day.

To make room for Perry, the Oilers had to scratch the highly popular Sam Gagner — a winger who has five goals and 10 points in 22 games in limited minutes. Perry had two shots on three attempts and two hits in 12:44 and most of that time was on a line with McLeod and Dylan Holloway. The latter was loaned to AHL Bakersfield for the bye week.

The Oilers look as unbeatable as ever whether they play their best or not.

“We were sloppy the last three (games) but we made some individual plays that got us the win,” Draisaitl said. “You need that sometimes too. It's been a great stretch for us.”

It was their power play, a tried-and-true aspect of their game and the NHL's most prolific unit last season, that led to the win over Nashville.

The three longest-serving forwards took them to the brink of history as McDavid, Draisaitl and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins each had two points with the man advantage.

McDavid then scored his 20th goal of the season and added an assist on Zach Hyman's 30th goal — into an empty net — to cap off the afternoon with a four-point lead.

Draisaitl also helped mark Hyman on a three-point play. That kind of production was par for the course against the Predators. He now has 19 goals and 33 points in his last 12 games against Nashville — 25 goals and 42 points in 26 career contests. He scored his 800th NHL point in his 683rd game when he finished off a pass from McDavid in the second period.

Skinner was nearly perfect in the Oilers' net by making 29 of 30 saves. Only a rebound off Colton Sisson's stick beat him late in the game. His best stop came in the opening frame on a Predators power play when he extended his right pad to tip a Luke Evangelista shot out of play. Skinner has a .935 save percentage since Nov. 24 and a .950 mark during the winning streak.

“Players feel confident when he plays,” Knoblauch said.

The Oilers have jumped up the standings to the point where they are comfortably in the playoff spot in third place in the Pacific Division — and in a position to track down those ahead of them as well.

They are now 29-15-1 with 59 points. They are five points behind the Golden Knights for second place in the division heading into Vegas' game at Detroit on Saturday night.

The Oilers now have a .656 points percentage, which has them ahead of the Golden Knights for seventh place in the NHL before the work is completed on Saturday. The Oilers have played 45 games behind only the Ottawa Senators for fewer games in the NHL. This means the Oilers will have a busy schedule after the All-Star Game. They play on consecutive days seven times after the break and have 37 games in 72 days.

The Oilers know they haven't accomplished anything yet and the road ahead won't be easy.

“It seems like we can't lose again. It feels like we're on top of the world. But there's still a lot of things we need to dial in on the ice,” Skinner said. “It's good that we're winning, and things are going well. But there are still a lot of things that we need to keep improving on, especially since we are trying to get somewhere.

Each player has a week to relax while they board a plane for a warmer climate or enjoy some time elsewhere.

The malaise of mid-December is in the rearview mirror. The anxiety of mid-November has long been out of the picture.

Now a chance for history awaits the Oilers on February 6.

“We know what's at stake,” Draisaitl said. “We still can't take our foot off the gas here.”

Required reading

(Photo: Andy Devlin/NHLI via Getty Images)