Chicago. Dallas. Minnesota. Winnipeg. Vancouver. Phoenix. Six straight losses have the Oilers on the verge of their longest ineffective run of the season; only a win over Nashville can halt the trend.

The schedule softens a little bit after the Olympic break, which is a good thing for the Oilers because they haven’t done a very good job of handling the rough stretches. Take the current six-game losing streak, comprised of a four-game Western road trip and then a home game against Vancouver. The only ‘easy’ matchup was a home game against the non-playoff Coyotes, which the Oilers lost on Friday.

Today the Oilers play the Predators. Tomorrow they play in Vancouver, which based on recent history is a game they’re all but certain to lose (the last time a tired Oilers team played Vancouver they lost 4-0 and were out-shot 40-19). Then there’s a Wednesday game against San Jose, then a four-game road swing out East starting with the Boston that ends with back-to-back games in New York.

A failure tonight gives the Oilers a very good shot at 10 consecutive losses.

Ugh.

Buffalo is on a 57-point pace for the season, but have improved to a 71-point pace under Ted Nolan. Calgary is on track to finish a dozen points ahead of the Oilers. And that is the total number of teams set to finish less than 20 points in front of Edmonton.

Game Day Prediction: The losing has to end at some point; let’s call it 3-1 in favour of Edmonton.

Obvious Game Day Prediction: Even though Devan Dubnyk is not expected to start, Louie DeBrusk will find a way to use the nickname ‘Big Easy’ at least once on the broadcast.

Not-So-Obvious Game Day Prediction: After winning the hardest shot competition yesterday, Luke Gazdic gets an opportunity on the man advantage and scores his first power play goal of the season.