Rick the Temp leads the Oilers against the Preds tonight

 

You know, the world is a funny place. Three months ago, we would have given both our left and right man-beans for the Oilers to win four games in a row. Now? Not so much. But credit where credit is due: the Oilers have won four games in a row and seven in a row at Rexall Place. That’s nothing to sneeze at, lambs.

Though this team got absolutely no help at the trade deadline, it has continued to play well—though veteran players have been dropping like police officers at an NWA concert. Let’s take stock of the current situation, shall we?

The Oil currently sit seven points back from a playoff spot. The odds calculator has the chances of them making the playoffs at 5.4%—roughly the same chances that Mats Sundin has of becoming the new spokesman for the Hair Club for Men. The jerk down the hall at our office only laughs and rolls his eyes when you ask him if he thinks the Oilers are going to make the playoffs. All signs point straight to the first tee at the Edmonton Country Club this April for our beloved Oil.

Yet an interesting thing may be occurring here. It could very well be that MacT has been forced to let the kids go buck wild without having to worry about sound defensive play, as all is already lost for the year. And it just could be that the kids are showing MacT there is another way to win games other than keeping the puck out of your own goal. It’s called “scoring” and it’s when you put the biscuit in the other cage. Offensive hockey may be on the return, and this 20-game period with no pressure might just be what the doctor ordered for this team to gel.

Maybe Mats Sundin wakes up with a full head of hair courtesy of the Hair Club for Men. Maybe the Oilers get themselves back into a position where games start to mean something. Maybe “Oilers Hockey” comes to mean something other than “the thing you watch when you are drinking $8 beers.”

Stranger things have happened.