The Edmonton Oilers have 11 games left in the regular season, and nothing is clear.

They enter Tuesday’s massive 15-game NHL slate third in the pillow fight Pacific Division, five points back of the Anaheim Ducks for the division lead, one point back of the Vegas Golden Knights and four points up on the Los Angeles Kings, who sit on the outside looking in of the wild-card spot.

The Oilers should be a playoff team, but nothing’s official until it’s official. Yet, as the games have gotten more and more important, the Oilers have struggled to get going. In Edmonton’s last 10 games coming out of the Olympic break, the team has sputtered to a 5-4-1 record. They’ve been outscored over that stretch 38-30, but have controlled the expected goal share at five-on-five 22.79-20.39.

A good sign, of course, but their last three games have been played without Leon Draisaitl, they’ve gone 1-2, beating the San Jose Sharks and losing to the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning. Despite beating San Jose 5-3, the team has been outscored 12-7 in those games. It doesn’t help that the power play has cooled right off without No. 29 in his usual spot, going one-for-nine in that trio of games.

The Ducks might be the only team in the division seizing the moment, going 6-3-1 in their last 10 games. Vegas is 4-6. The Kings are 4-3-3. Teams like the Seattle Kraken and the Sharks, who had been in the mix at one time, have sputtered to 3-7 and 3-5-2 records in their last 10.

Edmonton’s fate is in its own hands, and starting with tonight’s game against the Utah Mammoth, they need to get going.

Seven of their final 11 games are against pillow Pacific Division teams. They play Vegas twice, and Anaheim, Seattle, San Jose, Los Angeles and Vancouver once. The Oilers have beaten Vegas twice already, a good start, but two more wins against them will be key.

As they look to begin the stretch run of the regular season, Tristan Jarry will get the keys to the crease Tuesday, looking to shake off a brutal three-month stretch where he’s been nothing the Oilers hoped for. He’s posted a 7-6-1 record, a .854 save percentage, a 4.17 goals-against average and just three quality starts.

Jarry stepping up with a big game tonight would be huge for the team, and he knows it.

“You just want to beat your best every time you get the opportunity,” said Jarry. “It goes for anyone on the team: whenever they get the opportunity to set foot on the ice, they always want to be at their best.

“That’s why you want to play at this level, and that’s why you’re challenged so much at this level, because you can’t take a night off or you can’t take a practice off. You have to always be sharp because the players are just so good in this league and everyone works so hard. So to be able to stay at that level and compete at that level, it takes a lot.”

McDavid is looking at the Oilers’ final stretch optimistically.

“It’s been up and down. A trying year for sure,” said McDavid on Monday. “With that being said, we’re 71 games in and still in a playoff spot; still with a chance to win the division. When you look at it that way, there are a lot of positive things.

“So it doesn’t really matter how we got here. It doesn’t really matter the division you play in. We’re 11 games left with a chance to get in, and not only get in, but even win our division. So we’ll look at the positives there.”

Podkolzin – McDavid – Savoie
Roslovic – Nugent-Hopkins – Hyman
Samanski – Dickinson – Kapanen
Jones – Henrique – Jarventie

Walman – Bouchard
Nurse – Ekholm
Stastney – Murphy

Jarry

Keller – Schmaltz – Crouse
Peterka – Cooley – Guenther
McBain – Hayton – Carcone
Kerfoot – Stenlund – Yamamoto

Sergachev – Weegar
Schmidt – Marino
Cole – Durzi

Vejmelka (Likely)

GAME DAY PREDICTION: Having beaten Utah once already this season, the Oilers secure a 4-2 win, as Tristan Jarry secures a quality start.

OBVIOUS GAME DAY PREDICTION: Vasily Podkolzin has three goals on five shots against Vejmelka in his career, and three goals since the Olympic break. He scores another.

NOT-SO-OBVIOUS GAME DAY PREDICTION: The Oilers’ power play clicks, scoring twice.

Zach Laing is Oilersnation’s managing editor, and The Nation Network’s news director. He also makes up one-half of the Daily Faceoff DFS Hockey Report. He can be followed on X at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach.laing@bettercollective.com.