We’re into the stretch drive now.

There are just under three weeks left in the 2022-23 NHL season and the top seven teams in the Western Conference standings are separated by just seven points.

The Edmonton Oilers are in third place in the Pacific Division, five points back of the L.A. Kings and six behind the Vegas Golden Knights, while the Seattle Kraken are one point behind with one game in hand.

Let’s go through the remaining schedules of the four teams battling for playoff position in the Pacific…

The Golden Knights have the most difficult schedule remaining of the four teams. They play eight of their final 13 games on the road and they only have three games left against teams who have a points percentage under .500. Playing on the road might not matter much to Vegas, as they’re 21-7-5 this season away from home, but they don’t have many easy games left.

The Kings are flying right now, having won seven of their last nine games. They also have an excellent opportunity in front of them to continue this strong stretch, as their next four games are at home against the Canucks, Flames, Jets, and Blues. All told, seven of L.A.’s remaining 13 games are at home and five are against sub-.500 points percentage teams.

The Oilers have a little bit of work to do if they want to jump Vegas and L.A. and win their division for the first time since the 1980s but their schedule makes it doable. Edmonton has two more head-to-head games left against both the Golden Knights and Kings that are worth four points and six of their final 13 games are against basement teams, the Ducks, Sharks, and Coyotes.

The Kraken can leap over the Oilers in the standings with a win against them on Saturday but they then embark on a difficult four-game trip through Dallas, Nashville, and Minnesota. After that, things get easier, as six of Seattle’s final nine games are against basement teams. Seattle has been cool as of late but they certainly aren’t out of this race.