A mental, emotional and physical reset seemed to help the Edmonton Oilers.

Edmonton is in a stretch where they play just once in six days. They had consecutive days of practice for the first time in almost a month, and it paid off as they played their most complete game of the season en route to a 4-0 victory over the Seattle Kraken. Stuart Skinner was excellent. He didn’t face a heavy dose of quality shots, but he stopped a breakaway and made a few other key saves during his 26-save shutout. The Oilers’ penalty kill was a perfect 6-for-6, the power play went 2-for-2, and they scored two goals 5×5.

They started strong, and never allowed Seattle to take over the game for an extended period of time.

It is only one game, but in order to dig out of a funk, you have to take multiple steps to get out of the hole. Saturday was a good initial step, and tomorrow the Oilers begin a five-game homestand against Minnesota, Seattle, Winnipeg, Buffalo and Detroit. Minnesota will be the toughest test, while Detroit, Seattle and Buffalo are like the Oilers and have won less than half of their games.

Winnipeg is 13-11, but they are 1-4 since announcing Connor Hellebuyck is out four-to-six weeks, and when they come to Edmonton, it will be their sixth game in nine days, in six different cities and the second half of a back-to-back. That is a game where Edmonton will have a clear rest advantage.

Edmonton has a favourable schedule for the next 10 days with no travel. They play Winnipeg, Buffalo and Detroit on the second half of a back-to-back game, and Edmonton plays two games with two days between games and the other three they have one day in between. The schedule presents an opportunity to win three games in a row for the first time this season, and maybe even five out of six games. In Seattle, they showed themselves the type of game they are capable of playing, if they commit to making good decisions with and without the puck. Now they have to do it again.

— There seems to be more injuries this season. The NHL doesn’t track man-games lost, but certain websites do. You can see each team’s injuries here at NHL Injury Vis. I added up each team’s and here they are by division:

Pacific:
VAN (131)
EDM (91)
SEA (70),
VGK (66)
ANA (62)
SJS (55)
CGY (49)
LAK (23)

I didn’t include players like Logan Couture who is retired, Alex Pietrangelo, because he hasn’t officially retired, he most likely is done and isn’t expected to play this season.

Not all injuries are equal. If a starting goalie is out 10 games and a third liner is out 10 games, I think the impact is different, so we have to keep that in mind.

Central:
DAL (98)
MIN (80)
UTA (80)
COL (79)
WPG (71)
CHI (60)
NSH (49)
STL (29)

Dallas has had key injuries to players like Jamie Benn, Thomas Harley and Matt Duchene. As they’ve gotten healthier they’ve  looked stronger. Winnipeg losing Connor Hellebuyck for four-to-six weeks is easily the biggest injury in the division, and likely forces Winnipeg to battle for a Wildcard spot instead of one of the top-three spots in the division.

Atlantic:
FLA (115)
BUF (91),
TBL (86)
TOR (68)
MTL (50)
OTT (39)
BOS (32)
DET (20)

Florida hasn’t had Alexander Barkov or Matthew Tkachuk yet this season and it a main reason why they sit in 14th place in the East. Tkachuk could return within a month and that will be a huge boost, but Barkov’s return is likely late in the season or the playoffs, and the Panthers are likely battling for a Wildcard spot rather than a division position due to injuries. Detroit has been the healthiest team in the NHL, but haven’t been able to take advantage of that as they sit in fifth place. They are only two points behind second place Boston, but the Wings healthy lineup hasn’t been as good as other team’s injured roster.

Metropolitan
NJD (127)
CAR (89)
PIT (85)
NYI (77)
NYR (49)
WSH (42)
PHI (35)
CBJ (23)

The Devils have lost 37 games to injury to Evgeni Dadonov and Zach MacEwan, so that does alter the impact of their total games lost, but their blue line has been without Johnathan Kovacevic, Brett Pesce and Dougie Hamilton for a total of 43 games and they’ve been without Jack Hughes and Jacob Markstrom for a total of 13 and climbing. The Hurricanes haven’t had stalwart defender, Jaccob Slavin for 22 games, yet they lead their division with 34 points. They and the Devils sitting 1-2 despite their injuries tells me the gap between those two and the rest of the division is likely larger than it looks right now, once those clubs get healthy.

— The injury bug isn’t just biting on the ice. Alexey Toropchenko of the St. Louis Blues, became the third player this season to miss time due to an off-ice injury involving food/dinner. Toropencko scalded his legs in an accident at home. Earlier this year New Jersey’s Jack Hughes cut himself at a team dinner and will be out at least six-to-eight weeks. Florida’s Eetu Luostarinen burned himself using his barbecue and has already missed six games and will miss a few more. It’s been a wild season injury wise across the NHL.

— What a tilt in the American League over the weekend. Wow.

— Colorado has been unreal, but if I had to pick which D corps 1-6 I liked better, I’d take Dallas’ right now. The Avs will need to add some size to their backend. I don’t think they can play both Sam Malinski and Samuel Girard in their bottom four in the playoffs. Remember when they won the Cup in 2022, Girard only played in seven games. Not all your D have to be big, and when they are elite offensively or defensively like Cale Makar or Gustav Forsling, size isn’t a major factor, but neither Malinki or Girard are elite. I’d expect the Avs to bulk up their D corps before the playoffs.

— I get all the excitement over the Avalanche, but is interesting to breakdown their record. They’ve lost five games in OT/SO to Minnesota, Carolina, Utah, Dallas and New Jersey and 13 of their 18 wins came against non-playoff teams from last season. I see many suggesting they could push Boston for the best record in the NHL. I’d be surprised, mainly because 135 points is a crazy number, but also they’ve had a good schedule rest wise. They have played five sets of BTB games, but they’ve had nine stretches with at least two days between games. Edmonton has played five BTB games, and has had five stretches with 2+ days between games, and two of those came last week. They had three prior. Rest is a major factor during the regular season.

— In December and January, Colorado will have six sets of 2+ days rest, and one of those is the Christmas break that all teams have. Maintaining and 18-1-6 record would be difficult even with the same number of rest days, but don’t be surprised to see them lose a few more simply due to rest and recovery.

— Nathan MacKinnon is on pace for 144 points. He’s had another unreal start to the season and it will be very difficult for someone to catch him in the Art Ross race, as long as he remains healthy.