There are 18 days remaining in the NHL’s regular season. Two teams, Colorado and Dallas, have officially clinched playoff spots, while Carolina, Tampa Bay, Buffalo, Minnesota, Montreal and Anaheim are locks to get in.

The Edmonton Oilers’ three-game winning streak, only their second of the season, has them in a very favourable position to get in if they go 4-3-1 in their final eight games.

The Oilers host Seattle and Chicago before facing Vegas and their new head coach, John Tortorella, on Saturday. The Oilers are 14-4 against Seattle since they entered the NHL in 2021-22, and they are 11-2-1 against Chicago in that time. Dare to dream Oilersnation, but a five-game winning streak could happen.

— The Oilers finally won three in a row for the second time with a 4-2 victory over Anaheim on Saturday. The Oilers and Philadelphia Flyers are the only teams yet to win four consecutive games this season.

*Indicates active streak.

The Oilers and Flyers will both go for a fourth consecutive victory tomorrow night.

— The Oilers are 4-2 without Leon Draisaitl. They’ve scored 20 goals in six games and allowed 19, but nine came in their two losses to Tampa and Florida. They are winning because they’ve started limiting goals against, allowing 10 in their four victories. Darnell Nurse’s last four games have been the best stretch of games he’s played this season. He needs to continue to play at that level. He’s played poised, aggressive and simple. He and Connor Murphy are becoming the reliable second pair the Oilers needed.

— I’ve noticed many suggesting the Oilers are winning because Knoblauch is running four lines more. That isn’t accurate. The fourth line has actually played less in the past six games. Jack Roslovic has stepped up and produced. Matt Savoie was producing quite well coming out of the Olympic break and has continued with Draisaitl’s injury.

Look at their TOI in the first 68 games compared to the last six. Roslovic and Savoie are playing more, mainly due to getting power play time, but the power play hasn’t produced much, with only one goal on 14 chances. The power play isn’t nearly as good without Draisaitl.

Josh Samanski is playing more (11:14) compared to (9:35) in his first 11 games, but his production is identical. He had two points in 11 games and has one in six. Adam Henrique is down two minutes per game, and Samanski has essentially taken his ice time. Zach Hyman and RNH are down about one minute per game, but it is only six games, and the Oilers have led more than they’ve trailed, so that plays a factor, and they haven’t been on McDavid’s line. Jason Dickinson played 15 minutes with Draisaitl in the lineup and has played 15 minutes without him. Kapanen has averaged almost one more minute per game, but he has no points. He isn’t playing poorly —  I’m just outlining that while some guys have produced a bit more, others haven’t.

The minutes haven’t changed drastically, as once Dickinson arrived, that gave Knoblauch a third-line centre he trusts to play some tougher minutes. When Draisaitl returns, that will only make the team deeper and better, especially on the man advantage. Someone in the top nine will move down to the fourth line — likely Samanski or Kapanen — and I’d guess it might be Samanski, as Kapanen, Roslovic and Hyman are the right wingers. Samanski-Henrique-Frederic would be a solid fourth line.

— The Oilers are comfortably in a playoff spot and will likely finish second or third. Defeating Anaheim in regulation was huge, but the Ducks are still three points ahead with a game in hand. But the race for the final few playoff spots in the West is interesting.

We could argue that six teams are battling for the final wildcard spot. Nashville has 77 points, but LA is one back with a game in hand. Seattle is two points back with two games in hand. San Jose has three games in hand, but the Sharks have only one win in their last seven games. Winnipeg is three back with a game in hand,and the surging St. Louis Blue are four back with two games in hand. The Predators don’t play again until Thursday and could easily be out of a playoff spot by then.

The Blues have been the best team since the Olympic break going 15-2-2 and they’ve only allowed 23 goals. Winnipeg is 9-4-4 and they play the Blues on April 9. That game could be massive. The Kraken (4-7-2) and Sharks (5-6-3) are struggling in March and I don’t see that changing. LA is 1-2-3 in its last six. They are finding ways to get points, but they can’t win. They host St. Louis on Wednesday. The Predators have a four-game road trip to California starting Thursday where they play LA, San Jose, LA and Anaheim. The first three games will likely determine if they remain in the race or fall out.

—The Eastern Conference is equally congested, but there are more playoff spots up for grabs.

Seven teams are battling for four spots. Boston is in the best position holding down the first wildcard spot with 92 points. Pittsburgh, New York, Columbus and suddenly Philadelphia are battling for second and third in the Metropolitan and the final Wildcard spot along with Detroit and Ottawa.

— The Flyers have the second-most points in the NHL post-Olympics. They are 12-4-1 and are suddenly within two points of a playoff spot, with one game in hand. Could the Flyers and Blues complete the unexpected comeback? Here are their remaining games.

Pittsburgh plays in New York tonight and hosts Detroit tomorrow. If they can get a split, they have the easiest remaining schedule after that, with only two more games against teams in the playoff hunt, but if they lose both, they will be chasing.

— Vegas fired head coach Bruce Cassidy yesterday and replaced him with John Tortorella. The Golden Knights have been the second-worst team in the NHL since the Olympic break, going 5-10-2. Only Vancouver is worse, and they play the Canucks tonight. Vegas only has two games remaining against teams ahead of them in the standings, with road games in Edmonton and Colorado. They should make the playoffs. Vegas is an interesting case study. Their expected goals for and against are much better than their actual goals. Did Cassidy impact his players’ ability to score or make saves? Clearly, management thought he did. Cassidy is very demanding, and maybe the players were pressing too much, or maybe they simply aren’t that good of a team. GM Kelly McCrimmon is hoping his team gets the “new coach” bump and it leads to more success.

— Two previous times we’ve seen a team fire a coach this late in the season: the 2007 Devils fired Claude Julien with three games remaining. They were first in their division at the time. GM Lou Lamoriello took over as interim head coach. The Devils won their first-round matchup over TBL but lost to OTT in the second round. The 2000 Devils fired Robbie Ftorek with eight games remaining. They were first in the East, and Larry Robinson took over, and the Devils won the Stanley Cup.

Vegas isn’t in first place like those two teams were. This move tells me McCrimmon was planning on letting Cassidy go in the summer, so rather than wait, he opted to try and see if a new coach could help them now. Tortorella’s contract is only for the remainder of this season.

The Oilers could face Vegas in the opening round, and it would be their third meeting in four years. Vegas won in six in 2023, and the Oilers won in five last year.

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