The Edmonton Oilers find themselves in an interesting spot with roughly one month remaining in the NHL season.

Even after a disappointing loss to the Florida Panthers, they find themselves just one point back of the Anaheim Ducks for the top spot in the division, and even though the Ducks have two games in hand on the Oilers, they still have one head-to-head game remaining.

They’ll also play the Golden Knights twice before the regular season ends, so even though Vegas is just one point back with a game in hand, that’s not worth worrying about until those head-to-head games are played.

The Oilers are also just five points up on the Los Angeles Kings, whom they will also meet one more time before the end of the season.

It’s the stretch drive of the season, and that means that the out-of-town scoreboard matters much more than it has in any of the past few seasons, when the Oilers were much more comfortably in a playoff position.

So here is a look at what each Pacific Division team is facing this weekend and who you’ll be rooting for so the Oilers can hopefully see their playoff chances improve over the next 48 hours.

The Ducks have slipped a little bit as of late, dropping three of their last four, with all three of those losses coming against teams that currently sit outside of the playoffs.

Goals against were an issue for the Ducks earlier in the season, but over their last ten games, they sit 21st in the NHL in goals. They’ll need their offence to wake up if they’re going to come out of this weekend still in the top spot in the division.

The Sabres are currently on a three-game winning streak and are tied for first place in the Eastern Conference, while the Utah Mammoth have won back-to-back games.

The loser point has been the Kings’ best friend this season, they’re tied for the NHL lead with 16 of them, and they scooped up another one last night against the Flyers.

Still, they’ll need to start winning some games if they’re going to hold onto the eighth seed in the Western Conference.

This weekend will be a tough test, though, as they face a Sabres team that has dominated its western road trip, already racking up wins over the Golden Knights and Sharks, and then a Utah team that is 18-11-3 on home ice this season.

The good news for the Kings is that Adrian Kempe, who was day-to-day, returned to their lineup on Thursday.

The Sharks’ playoff chances have taken a massive hit over the last week. They’ve dropped three in a row and have been passed in the standings by the Kings, Predators and Kraken.

Their playoff chances on Moneypuck are now down to just 24.3 per cent, and if they lose to the Flyers in regulation, those odds could drop all the way down to 16 per cent.

Preventing goals has been a huge problem for them over this skid. They’ve allowed 17 goals over their last three games. Earlier in the year, they were outscoring their problems, and Macklin Celebrini was the main driver of that offence, but he’s been held to just one point over this losing streak.

It’s not looking good for the Sharks, and while the Flyers are out of the playoff mix, they weirdly have strung together seven wins in their last 10 games.

The Kraken are also ice cold heading into the weekend. They’ve dropped back-to-back games and have just two wins in their last eight games.

Scoring goals hasn’t been a huge issue for Seattle over their last ten games, but they have given up the 10th-most goals in the league over that stretch. They’re also still without Jaden Schwartz, which is a big blow.

Bobby McMann, their main trade deadline addition has really helped spark them. He has four goals in four games since joining the team.

They’re in tough this weekend though as they face a Blue Jackets team that is 7-0-3 in their last 10 games and has the second-best points percentage in the league since they fired Dean Evason in January.

The Golden Knights come into the weekend with just three wins in their last ten games. It’s been a tough stretch for them, much like the other teams in the Pacific.

This weekend will be very difficult for Vegas. Nashville has won two straight games, so that is far from an easy matchup, and then they have to head to Dallas the next day to play a Stars team that is 9-1-1 in their last ten and has only lost once in regulation since January 22nd.

There is a real chance that Vegas doesn’t gain any ground on the Oilers this weekend, even though they play one more game.