Would you rather the Oilers be scoring at will, but struggling to suppress goals against? Well, we’ve seen that, and it hasn’t been a long-term winning strategy. The Oilers know it too, and there’s a vibe around the team that they are dialling into a sound defensive structure.

That doesn’t mean the reverse issue of not scoring, giving up two goals in 125 minutes, and going 0-1-1 in the process, ain’t nothing either. But of the two, it’s the preferred issue.

“A lot of times it’s luck,” said coach Kris Knoblauch on Wednesday about his team’s recent scoring woes. This time of year, offence isn’t so easy to create.

“It’s harder to score, it’s tighter checking. You’re getting less freebies, less odd-man rushes, so you just have to be hungry around the net to score. You have to pay a price.”

Connor Ingram has been terrific in his last two starts, giving the Oilers every opportunity to win against the Colorado Avalanche and the Los Angeles Kings. In his last seven games, he’s 4-2-1, with a .924 save percentage, and an even 2.00 goals against average.

But the depth scoring has dried up, and after arrows were pointing up, the Oilers have lost four of their five games. Connor McDavid has factored in on the team’s last six goals over a three-game stretch. It’s been 203 minutes and 24 seconds since Edmonton scored a non-McDavid-affected goal.

The good news is the Oilers won’t be missing Hyman any longer, as he’s been cleared to return and practiced on McDavid’s wing on Wednesday. It comes at the right time because an Oilers win ensures home-ice advantage in the first round.

Hyman’s return

The Oilers’ third-highest goal scorer, Zach Hyman, will return after missing the last four games due to an undisclosed injury. It seemed to eat at him not being in the lineup.

“I don’t just sit out games. I don’t like doing that,” he told reporters on Wednesday.

“It’s not something where I was just kind of sitting out. It was taking care of something and making sure that you’re able to contribute at the level that you need to in order to make sure that the team has success. In the playoffs, you play a little bit more physical, obviously, so I gotta make sure that I’m ready to play at that level.”

Hyman is a valuable piece. Look no further than the netfront chances on the Oilers’ five-on-three power play against the Avs on Monday. He makes those plays look easy scraping for loose pucks, and is first on the Oilers with 1.63 goals per 60 in all situations, the 14th highest mark in the NHL this year.

“It’s nice having a big time goal scorer back in your lineup,” said Knoblauch. “But it’s not just him finding his game and getting ready for the playoffs. Tomorrow’s a very important game for us, and he will help us win.”

Mission avoid Avs

An unnecessarily complicated playoff scenario flowchart.

Above is a very complicated-looking flowchart of the possible scenarios coming out of each Pacific playoff team’s last contest. Now, most of the chart can be chucked out with Vegas clinching the Pacific Division last night with a win over Seattle.

So, the dream, mainly fan-driven, to claim the first divisional title since 1986-87, will have to wait. Onto grander dreams.

The must-avoid situation is the Oilers playing the Colorado Avalanche in the first round, falling all the way down to the second wildcard position. The Oilers do that by getting at least a point vs the Canucks, as they hold tiebreakers over Anaheim and LA. A variety of scenarios could see them play either the Ducks or Kings.

Anaheim Ducks at Nashville Predators
Los Angeles Kings at Calgary Flames

If the Oilers lose in regulation, and the Ducks and Kings both win, Edmonton would play Colorado.

“It’s high importance,” said Darnell Nurse on Wednesday, when asked about what’s on the line. “It’s a huge game for us. We get to kind of choose our own fate and our own outcome here at the end of the year.”

But whether home-ice advantage is essential for the Oilers, Nurse wasn’t so definite.

“Honestly, we’ve played a lot of series and started on the road, started at home. I don’t know if I put huge amount of stock in it.”

‘End off strong’

As they say, there’s nothing more dangerous than a team with nothing to lose. The Vancouver Canucks have had nothing to lose for awhile.

Despite locking up last place and the best Draft Lottery odds, the Nucks have won three straight games, back-to-back against Pacific Division playoff teams hungry for points.

A mix of exciting youth for the future, plus cagey veterans, are hoping to lay down a foundation for next season and finish strong.

“You can tell it’s changed,” said rookie defenceman Zeev Buium of the atmosphere. “I think just by the way we play, we’ve really come together off the ice and got to know each other and care about each other.”

Buium will have a big hand on the future of the franchise, closing out his rookie season as the cornerstone return for former captain Quinn Hughes. With six goals and 26 points, he’s been learning lots under new de facto leader Filip Hronek.

All three wins on the streak have been 4-3 victories and come either in overtime or a shootout. Vancouver at least gave their fans something to cheer about on Tuesday, earning just their ninth win on home ice all season long.

“It’s been a tough go, especially for the fans,” said Jake DeBrusk. He scored twice in the contest, including the overtime winner, ratcheting up his season total to 23 for the Canucks team lead.

“For sure, I want to end off strong. We all do. It’s been a tough year…The biggest thing I’ve noticed is how the seats are still pretty much packed, and it’s a good crowd every single night.”

A big reason why the Canucks are winning these games lately is their strong special teams. In the last three matchups, Vancouver has scored five times on the power play in nine tries, and the penalty kill has been successful five of the last six. While their PK has struggled throughout the year, the power play is 14th.

DeBrusk has scored 19 of his 23 goals on the power play this season. That’s the third-best in the NHL.

Notes:

Elias Pettersson will likely finish as the team leader in points, as he sits with 51. That’s six points better than 2024-25, but he played nine more games this go-round. His name will be linked to several trade rumours this summer for teams that believe he can repeat those lofty highs of 100 points.
Since the Olympic break, Pettersson has 17 points, but just five points at five-on-five. That includes zero goals.
This is the first time in Canucks franchise history they’ve failed to win double-digit games at home. The last NHL team to win less than 10 home games was the 2022-23 San Jose Sharks. The time before that was the 2002-03 Florida Panthers.
The future of President of Hockey Ops, Jim Rutherford, as well as general manager Patrik Allvin, is still up in the air, according to the latest reports. Both have been in the fold for four-and-a-half years.
Hronek has been the guy to shoulder the load of hard minutes. He’ll set a career high in time-on-ice this season, averaging 24:58 per game. Hronek just set a new career high in points with 49, as he’s on a three-game point streak.
Barring a Nathan MacKinnon miracle, Connor McDavid will win his sixth Art Ross Trophy as Nikita Kucherov’s season ended yesterday. McDavid sits four points better than any one player.
McDavid needs two goals to hit the 50-goal plateau for the second time in his career.
Evan Bouchard will finish as the defensive leader in points with a sizeable gap between his 92 points and the next closest in Zach Werenski at 81.
One last time to twist the Vasily Podkolzin knife. Podz had some looks on the five-on-three power play to score his 20th goal of the season, but the trade has been an Oiler fleece since the swap before the 2024-25 season. He’s played a career high of 15:21 per game this season.
Quietly, Mattias Ekholm is set to play every game this regular season. Playing all 82 games is something he’s only done twice before, and not since the 2016-17 year. After injury concerns that hurt his play in the Stanley Cup Final, Ekholm has produced too, registering 41 points, the third time in his career he’s surpassed the 40-point plateau. After scoring a hat-trick back on January 26, he’s gone goalless in 27 straight games. But I’m not sure he’s terribly bothered by that.
The Oilers are 2-0-1 against the Canucks, last beating them 6-0, with all six goals in the second period on January 17. Only two players currently on the Canucks roster have scored in their five goals against the Oilers this season: Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser.

Michael Menzies is an Oilersnation columnist and co-host of PreGaming and Oilersnation After Dark. He’s also been the play-by-play voice of the Bonnyville Pontiacs in the AJHL since 2019. With seven years of news experience as the Editor-at-Large of Lakeland Connect in Bonnyville, Menzies collects vinyl, books, and stomach issues. Follow him on X at Menzies_4.

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