The Edmonton Oilers need to avoid losing streaks while they climb their way up the NHL standings. Even the top ten teams in the standings will lose two consecutive games in regulation, but only Boston and Winnipeg have lost three in a row so far this season, and the Bruins are 19-5-5, so they’ve done an excellent job of avoid losing streaks. They haven’t lost consecutive games in regulation or overtime/shootout at any other point this season other than that three-game skid. Vegas, Vancouver, Toronto, LA, Florida, Dallas, Colorado and the New York Rangers have only had two-game losing skids this season.

Edmonton needs to put the brakes on its two-game skid tonight.

Edmonton played well enough to defeat Tampa Bay last Thursday, but ran into a hot goalie in Andrei Vasilevskiy. But on Saturday they were the second-best team on the ice against Florida. It was the first time in ten games they weren’t the best team on the ice. It will happen, but they can’t let it happen again tonight. The Oilers lost three regulation games in a row once last season. They had four two-game losing streaks. They did a great job of stopping streaks before they became an issue.

This season the Oilers have already had a four-gamer, one three-gamer and three two-game losing streaks. This isn’t close to a must-win game for the Oilers, however, a victory to start this six-game road trip would be welcomed.

The Oilers have played quite well for the past 25 days, and they can’t let one loss to Florida suddenly have their tires spinning.

They need a good start. The Islanders have scored first the fourth-most times this season. Although they haven’t been great at taking advantage of that. They are 9-2-7 when scoring first. During their recent offensive surge, the Islanders scored first six times but were only 3-1-2. Meanwhile the Oilers, who are 8-2 in their last ten games, are 5-0 when scoring first, however, they’ve allowed the first goal in three consecutive games. They were able to come back and defeat a terrible Chicago team but lost to Tampa and Florida.

It is another trend they want to stop. Playing from behind is a recipe for losing.

Only four teams in the NHL have a winning% below 50% when scoring first. Columbus has won 8 of 18 (44%) when scoring first, Calgary’s only won six of 14 (42.9%), Seattle has won six of 15 (40%) and Chicago’s only won five of 15 (33.3%). The Oilers have been much better at holding onto the lead, going 5-0, after starting the season 4-6-1 when they scored first.

Only three teams have a winning% above 50 when allowing the first goal. The Rangers are 7-5 (58.3%), Dallas is 9-6-1 (56.3%) and Toronto is 7-3-3 (53.8W%). The Oilers are 4-8 (33.3%) which had them tied with Arizona for 18th place. The Islanders are 13th at 41.7% (5-6-1). Last year the Oilers had the 3rd best winning% when allowing the first goal at only 47%. It is difficult to overcome the first goal, even in today’s NHL where comebacks have increased.

Kane – McDavid – Hyman
RNH– Draisaitl – Foegele
Janmark – McLeod – Brown
Gagner – Hamblin – Ryan

Nurse – Ceci
Ekholm – Bouchard
Kulak – Desharnais<

Skinner

Kris Knoblauch wanted more balance on the road and switched Evander Kane and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins on the top two lines. He also put Warren Foegele on Leon Draisaitl’s right wing. I understand the suggestion Connor Brown was slowing Draisaitl down, but Draisaitl has oddly struggled in December much of his career, more so than in other months. His goals/game is lower.

His goals/game is 0.34, which is much lower than every other month. The next lowest is November at 0.47. He’s at 0.33 goals/game this month. The gaudy -30 is due to a horrible December in 2021 when he was somehow was -24 in 14 games. It was crazy. This is not the first December where he struggled. He’s had a cough/cold a few times, but it is odd to see his goal production drop that much compared to other months.

Lee – Horvat – Barzal
Engvall – Nelson – Palmeiri
Holmstrom – Pageau – Gauthier
Fasching – Cizikas – Clutterbuck

Romanov – Dobson
Reilly – Aho
Bolduc – Bortuzzo

Sorokin

Head coach Lane Lambert loves playing Dobson with the Horvat line. They’ve been very dangerous 5×5 and on the PP together as Dobson, Horvat and Barzal each have 16 points in their last 10 games. Whichever line is out against them will need to respect their offence and play on the right side of the puck.

GAME DAY PREDICTION: The Oilers end their short two-game slide with a 5-3 win.

OBVIOUS GAME DAY PREDICTION: Both teams score a power play goal.

NOT-SO-OBVIOUS GAME DAY PREDICTION: Foegele scores his first career goal against the Islanders.

Thanks to Ryan for his awesome bid on the A-1 Heating package yesterday in support of Operation Friendship Seniors Society.

DAY 13: 🎁 Package #1: Realtor Fees from Michelle Derk of Acquired Real Estate Group.

On a $500,000 house that is a value of $9,500.00. On a $600,000 house that is a value of $11,000.00 and so on.

🎁 Package #2: A catered 5-course meal for eight in your home with guests, Sean Brown, Jason Strudwick and Jason Gregor.