Connor McDavid is in the midst of his third 10-game point streak of the season. He scored 10-12-22 in 10 games from October 26th to November 12th, then amassed 16-21-37 in a 17-game point streak between November 26th to December 30th. He was held pointless v. the Winnipeg Jets on New Year’s Eve, before starting his current streak (8-8-16) in 10 games since January 3rd.

He has points in 27 of his last 28 games.

McDavid has been held scoreless in only five of the Oilers 48 games this season. He went pointless on October 22nd v. St. Louis, the 24th v. Pittsburgh, November 16th v. LA, the 23rd in New York v. the Islanders and New Year’s Eve v. the Jets. He’s picked up at least one point in 89.5% of the Oilers games. He has more 4+ point games (eight) than he has scoreless games this season.

The great news for McDavid is the team has started to play better. He is still producing, but the team is winning more, mainly because they have significantly reduced their goals against. In 35 games prior to Christmas, the Oilers ranked 24th in goals against/game at 3.46. They were third in goals scored/game at 3.60. Post-Christmas the Oilers lead the NHL with 4.00 goals/game, but they are fifth in goals against/game at 2.62. They lowered their GA/GP by almost a goal/game at 0.84.

Before Christmas McDavid factored in on 66 of the 126 goals Edmonton scored (52.3%), but since Christmas, he’s been in on 22 of 52 (42.3%). McDavid averaged 1.89 points/game before Christmas and is at 1.69 since, but the team, specifically the Kostin-RNH-Janmark line, has produced very well with him on the bench.

McDavid hasn’t had to carry the team recently. He has one three-point game since Christmas, but the Oilers have the third best points% in the NHL. The great news for the Oilers, and scary news for the opposition, is McDavid’s 16 points during this 10-games streak are the lowest point total he’s had during any 10-game point streak of his career.

This is the 10th streak of 10+ games of his career which ties him with Sidney Crosby for the most 10-gamers among active players.

Leon Draisaitl is tied for third with Patrick Kane, but McDavid has twice as many 10-game streaks as every player in the NHL except for Crosby, Draisaitl, Kane, Evgeni Malkin, Nikita Kucherov, and David Pastrnak.

Wayne Gretzky holds the Oilers franchise record with 21 different 10+ game point streaks. McDavid is second with 10, Jari Kurri is third with eight, and Draisaitl is tied with Mark Messier and Paul Coffey with seven.

Gretzky holds the NHL record with 31. He had 21 with Edmonton, eight with LA and two with the Rangers. Thanks to Stuart from NHL stats, here are the 19 players with the most career 10-game point streaks.

Wayne Gretzky – 31
Guy Lafleur – 15
Mario Lemieux – 14
Marcel Dionne – 13
Steve Yzerman, Brett Hull, Mark Messier, Peter Stastny, Denis Savard, Mike Bossy and Phil Esposito – 12
Jaromir Jagr and Paul Coffey – 11
McDavid, Crosby, Joe Sakic, Pierre Turgeon, Bernie Federko, and Bryan Trottier – 10

McDavid should finish his career in second place.

Despite a slight dip in production recently, McDavid is still playing very well, and he seems poised for a breakout game offensively. He’s averaged 1.92 points/game in 23 career games v. the Blue Jackets. Combine that with the Oilers having three days between games and facing a Blue Jackets team that is 30th in goals against/game (3.89), you shouldn’t be shocked if McDavid has his 96th career game with three or more points.

He is playing well and so are the Oilers as they look to extend their winning streak to seven games.

Draisaitl – McDavid – Hyman
Kostin – RNH – Janmark
Foegele – McLeod – Puljujarvi
Holloway – Ryan

Nurse – Ceci
Kulak – Barrie
Broberg – Bouchard
Desharnais

Skinner

Evander Kane won’t play as he attends his bankruptcy case in San Jose. Mattias Janmark is healthy and returns after missing two games.

Gaudreau – Jenner – Laine
Nyquist – Sillinger – Johnson
Foudy – Roslovic – Marchenko
Robinson – Kuraly – Olivier

Gavrikov – Peeke
Berni – Gudbranson
Blankenburg – Boqvist

Korpisalo

Korpisalo was excellent in Calgary on Monday. He was the reason the Blue Jackets pushed the game to overtime. The Oilers should be able to generate quality chances, they just need to bury them. Since Christmas the Oilers have outscored teams 22-6 in the first period. They have scored the most goals and allowed the fewest. Columbus has been very good defensively in the first period since Christmas allowing only 10 goals in their 14 games, so the Oilers will need to be ready when the puck drops at 7:50 p.m. Yes, a gross weekday start time.

There has been lots of talk about adding Vladislav Gavrikov. Is he a significant upgrade over Brett Kulak? Here is a good article by Frank Seravalli with input from scouts analyzing Gavrikov’s game.  I’m not sold he’s the answer. He might be, but it is far from a lock.

GAME DAY PREDICTION: Oilers win seven in a row for the first time in 20 years. They defeat the Blue Jackets 5-2.

OBVIOUS GAME DAY PREDICTION: McDavid, Draisaitl, and Hyman each have multi-point games.

NOT-SO-OBVIOUS GAME DAY PREDICTION: Broberg scores his first goal of the season.