Hot off a shootout win against the Tampa Bay Lightning and a controversial goal by Linus Omark, the Oilers play the Vancouver Canucks this fine evening at Rexall Place.

The Canucks could be a little testy during this match, having lost yesterday in overtime on a night where they retired the ol #19 worn by Markus Naslund. The home team is supposed to rise to the occasion on these sorts of nights, but the Canucks dropped the match to the Bolts and will take to the ice looking for some measure of revenge.

If you haven’t already noticed, the Oilers are have collected 7 wins in their past 10 games and are on a 6 game point streak. Paajarvi has stepped up nicely, the defensive corps has miraculously held and the injuries to Horcoff and Hemsky haven’t sunk the team – yet.

The OilersNation is currently divided cleanly down the middle. Half of the Nation wants the Oil to tank it and collect a lottery pick and the other half figures that the team has what it takes to take a run at the post season.

If you haven’t taken a look at the standings lately you may not have realized how things are going oversll. The Oilers are amazingly closer to a playoff spot than they are last place in the league.

Not blinded with rage yet? Read on.

The Oilers hsve 27 points – tied with the terribly overpriced and Sutter laden Calgary Flames. This is good enough for last place in the West, however the divide between the Western and Eastern Conference have-nots is starting to become more apparent as the season wears on.

There are four – count em – four seperate squads in the East that are currently faring worse than the Oilers. The Islanders are worst in the league with a piddling 15 points. Then come the Devlis – led by their Billionaire star player Ilya Kovalchuk – with 18 points.

If the Kovalchuk contact paired with the first quarter of their first season of the New Deal doesn’t send a warning to the rest of the league against the perils of signing players of dubious character to these types of deals – we don’t know what will.

The Leafs and the Panthers are next with 26 points and make up the 5 teams currently standing between the Oilers and their destiny as the first pick at the 2011 Entry Draft. It is going to take some serious tanking if the Oil are going to holla back at the number one draft pick this year.

The race begins tonight.

See what Canucks fans have to say here. Apparently the keys to the game are intimidation, rebounding quickly from last night’s loss and directing a ton of shots on net. Such brilliant tactical suggestions! It’s amazing the franchise hasn’t got a single Cup win to it’s credit.

Look for the trend of heartbreaking wins to continue and for the Oilers to do us all a disservice and win the game 6-4.