The Edmonton Oilers passed Vegas for first place in the Pacific Division on January 25th, and while they’ve only been in first place for nine days, tonight they can move four points up on the idle Golden Knights and continue their push to win their division for the first time since 1987, which is the longest drought (36 seasons) in NHL history.

Only four other franchises have had 30+ year droughts, including the New York Islanders’ 35 seasons (1988-present), Toronto’s 32 seasons (1968-1999), Los Angeles’ 32 seasons (1992-present) and Arizona’s 31 seasons (1980-2011).

Catching Vegas hasn’t been easy. Between November 1st and December 31st Vegas had the best points percentage in the NHL at .731 (18-6-2) while the Oilers were second at .692 (17-7-2). But since the calendar turned to 2025, Vegas has struggled going 6-8-3 which has them 27th in points percentage (.441), while the Oilers’ strong play has continued in 2025 as they are 11-4-1. A victory tonight would give them the fourth-best points percentage at .735.

A victory tonight against the lowly Chicago Blackhawks will have the Oilers gaining 10 points on Vegas in the first 36 days of 2025. After two months of playing great hockey and actually losing two points in the standings to Vegas, the past five weeks have been a quick change in the landscape atop the Pacific Division. Tonight presents a wonderful opportunity to extend their lead to four points with 28 games remaining.

Chicago is not a good team. They’ve been at the bottom of the league all season. They rank 31st with 16 wins through 52 games. Since the start of 2025, they are also 31st going 4-7-3. They’ve been outscored 49-39. They’ve allowed the most shots on goal/game over that time at 36.1 while also firing the fewest shots on goal/game at 22.1. When you are getting outshot by an average of 14 shots/game your odds of winning are low. They are a bad team, but Edmonton learned last month the Blackhawks aren’t a guaranteed victory.

Chicago had leads of 2-0 and 3-1 on January 11th, before the Oilers scored three in a row to secure a 4-3 victory. The Oilers have the most wins in the NHL since Halloween with 29, they’ve averaged the most goals per game at 3.53 and rank fifth in goals against at 2.51. They are among the league’s elite, and a victory tonight only strengthens their odds of ending their division-winning drought.

— Here’s a quick comparison of the Oilers and Vegas’ final games. I broke it down into the top 11, middle 11 and bottom 10.

The Oilers have 11 games against the top 11 teams. Vegas has eight.

EDM plays @WSH, @FLA, @CAR, DAL, @NJ, WPG, DAL, @VGK, @LA, @WPG and LA.

VGK plays @NJ, @LA, NJ, TOR, LA, @MIN, EDM and WPG.

Edmonton has six games vs. the middle 11 teams while Vegas has 12.

EDM plays COL, @TB, MTL, @NYI, @NYR and CGY.

VGK plays @BOS, VAN, CHI, @CBJ, @DET, BOS, DET, TB, @CGY, @VAN, @COL, @CGY and @VAN.

Edmonton has 12 games vs. bottom 10 teams and Vegas has eight.

EDM plays @CHI, @PHI, ANA, MTL, @BUF, UTA, SEA, @SEA, @SJ, @ANA, STL, SJ and @SJ.

VGK plays CHI, PIT, @PIT, @BUF, @CHI, @NSH, SEA and NSH.

Vegas has five sets of BTB games, while the Oilers also have five, but that includes tonight’s tilt.

Vegas has a more challenging schedule with 20 games vs. top 22 teams while the Oilers have 17.

— Edmonton has outshot its opponents 134-85 over their last three games, but the team is 1-1-1 while scoring eight goals and allowing eight. Their offence could use a bit more polish around the net.

— I returned from a two-week holiday (I highly recommend the Big Island in Hawaii), and I’m still perplexed by the chatter the Oilers need to upgrade their goaltending. I think those who are worried only focus on the Oilers and don’t look at how goalies across the NHL are doing.

Stuart Skinner is 14-6-2 in his last 22 starts with a .918Sv% and 2.29 GAA. He ranks fifth (min 13 GP) in Sv% and sixth in GAA over that span. Anytime he allows a soft goal, people overreact as though he is the only goalie in the NHL who does it or has an off night. Skinner is only 26 years of age, he’s playing well, is a bargain at $2.6m and can the naysayers even name a goalie who would be an upgrade and is available?

— Calvin Pickard is 9-1 in his last 10 starts. His 10 starts date back to November 29th and 49 goalies have made at least 10 starts over that time. Pickard is tied for 2oth in Sv% at .905 and ranks 16th in GAA at 2.49. What more do you want from a backup? Make the complaining make sense.

— Jeff Skinner has really improved his defensive awareness this year. He made three really good defensive reads last night vs. St. Louis and he’s making quicker reads with the puck. I think it is great what Corey Perry has given the Oilers this year. He’s produced more than I expected, and his gamesmanship is top-notch, but I’d like to see Skinner get a game or two alongside Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. Knoblauch did give him a shift with those two late in the third period last night, and I wonder if we see more of that tonight. Skinner has improved the areas the coach wanted him to, and I’d like to see him get a look alongside one, or both of the Oilers’ star centres soon.

— That being said, it is very difficult to question Kris Knoblauch’s player decisions. He has a knack of putting guys out at the right time. How many coaches would have put Connor Brown on the ice in overtime last night? He hadn’t scored a goal in his previous 21 games. He’d never scored an OT goal, yet Knoblauch put him on the ice and Brown scored the winning goal. Granted, McDavid made two great moves before dishing it to Brown, but Brown put himself in the right spot and if he is a left-handed shot in that spot, he couldn’t one-time the puck. Knoblauch has a keen sense of when to put certain guys on the ice, and that goal should give Brown a huge boost of confidence.

— Connor Bedard has eight goals and 19 points in his last 19 games. He had 26 points in his first 33 games of the season. His overall production this year is similar to his rookie campaign. He scored 22 goals and 61 points in 68 games which averaged out to 0.32 goals/game and .90 points/game. This season he’s averaging 0.28 goals/game and 0.87 points/game. The main difference thus far is he’s down almost one shot per game. Last year he had 206 shots in 68 games (3.03 shots/game), while this season he 123 shots in 52 games (2.36/game). He has an excellent release, but he hasn’t been able to use it as much. No doubt, it will help Bedard when Chicago gets a better-supporting cast, but he will need to find ways to use his shot more regardless of whom he plays with.

— The Oilers quarter-century team was announced while I was away. I was asked to submit my group of six forwards, four D-men and two goalies. Here are my rankings in order. Games played was a big factor for me, although in the case of Chris Pronger I felt his impact was so massive, I had to include him.

Forward 1: Connor McDavid
Forward 2: Leon Draisaitl
Forward 3: Ales Hemsky
Forward 4: Ryan Smyth
Forward 5: Shawn Horcoff
Forward 6: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins

Defenseman 1: Darnell Nurse
Defenseman 2: Chris Pronger
Defenseman 3: Oscar Klefbom
Defenseman 4: Evan Bouchard

Goaltender 1: Dwayne Roloson
Goaltender 2: Stuart Skinner

Hemsky was incredibly skilled and played with no fear. I’ve long felt Shawn Horcoff was underappreciated in how good his overall game was. He was the Oilers’ first-line centre when they went to the Cup Final in 2006 and he matched up against — and outdueled — top centres like Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg, Joe Thornton and Ryan Getzlaf on their way to the Cup. Oscar Klefbom’s career-ending injury will always be one of the biggest “what ifs” in Oilers’ history for me. When healthy he was excellent.

Adam Henrique sat out last night due to an illness and he will be a game-time decision tonight. If he’s ready he will play. Knoblauch rarely likes to have guys sit out both ends of a back-to-back so we might see Troy Stecher as well.

Further to the notes above on Pickard’s recent play: He hasn’t needed to be spectacular, but he’s given the Oilers a chance to win, which is all you want from your backup. Pickard has the most wins of any backup with 13 in 17 starts. Only Marc-Andre Fleury (11 wins in 17 starts) and Joel Hofer (10 wins in 17 starts) have double-digit victories. Pickard has a .901Sv% on the season, but his first start of the season, which was against Chicago where he allowed five goals on 20 shots, was his only really bad game. In his other 16 starts he has a .909Sv% and a 2.32 GAA. Why people are clamouring for the Oilers to get a better backup is odd to me. Who is available that has been more consistent since October 13th?

Landon Slaggert made his season debut with the Blackhawks on January 28th. He has two goals in three games since being recalled and he hasn’t been afraid to shoot the puck with nine shots in three games. Chicago drafted him in the third round in 2020. He played four years at Notre Dame before joining the Blackhawks late last year. He played 16 games before starting this season in the AHL. Chicago desperately needs some mid to late-round picks to pan out in the future. They have Slaggert and Ethan Del Mastro (4th round, 2021) in the lineup tonight, while Colton Dach (2nd round, 2021) has played 13 games this season. He will get the night off tonight as Craig Smith returns to the lineup after missing 11 games with a back injury.

GAME DAY PREDICTION: Oilers move four points ahead of Vegas with a 5-2 victory.

OBVIOUS GAME DAY PREDICTION: Draisaitl picks up two points and moves into first place in the NHL scoring race with 81 points, one ahead of Nathan MacKinnon.

NOT-SO-OBVIOUS GAME DAY PREDICTION: McDavid has produced multiple points in consecutive games only seven times this season. He did it 24 times last year for comparison’s sake. He makes it eight tonight with another three-point game.