What a long, strange trip it’s been.
As quickly as the Oilers’ regular season began, it ended Wednesday night with a 3-0 shutout of the San Jose Sharks.
It didn’t take much from the Oilers, as Connor McDavid hit the 100-point mark, setting up Ty Emberson for a goal in the first period, before Max Jones got his first as an Oiler in the second period. Corey Perry’s empty-netter would put it away, and set the Oilers sights — officially, that is — on the Los Angeles Kings.
How the Oilers got here wasn’t always pretty. In fact, there’s a clear argument to be made it’s their worst regular season in the last five years.
They finish the campaign 48-28-5, good enough for a 101 standings points and a .616 points percentage — a fine clip that solidifies them in the league’s top 10, but their lowest since the COVID-shortened 2019-20 season. Edmonton fell in the Qualifying Round that year, getting swept in three games by the Chicago Blackhawks.
This season was one of high-highs and low-lows, and one of their lows came right out of the gate, dropping five of their first seven games. The team looked lethargic, out of place and like one who didn’t get much of an offseason in thanks to their run to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals that just fell short.
Even through their first 14 games, the team hadn’t been sharp. They won a few more games leading into early November, but a 6-7-1 record wasn’t anywhere near where they wanted to be.
Then, in Oilers fashion, they got hot, flying up the standings at a torrid pace. Between November 9th and January 16th, there was no hotter team in the league, as the Oilers ripped off 23 wins in 31 games beating teams at will left right and centre.
Things slowed into late January and early February, which was far from ideal for the team. It was a 5-4-1 run, nothing detrimental, but certainly concerning. They seemed to lose a bit of the fire they had and then came the 4-Nations Face-Off.
Connor McDavid, Mattias Ekholm and Viktor Arvidsson would represent their countries while the rest of the club rested. That break, lasting nearly two weeks, kicked off a downright brutal stretch for the team leading through March. Between their return on February 22nd and March 27th, injuries began to wreack havoc on the club, as they had their worst stretch since the start of the year, going 7-9-1 over 17 games.
But their final 10 games leading through the season finale saw the club turn it around: a 7-3 run helped them lock up their playoff spot, and secure a date with the Los Angeles Kings for the fourth straight year.
While the Oilers game has seemed to turn a corner, the finale wasn’t all Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch hoped it to be.
“Tonight, I didn’t like our puck moving and execution,” said Knoblauch. “We had to spend a lot more time in the defensive zone, especially in the first 10 minutes, we’re under seige there… and gave up a lot of chances.
“Stu was very solid, but overall, I thought we defended really well, broke up a lot of plays, but the breakouts, the puck play, that stuff could’ve been a lot cleaner. Certainly, we’ll have to get a lot sharper going forward.”
They still don’t know their official start date as of late Thursday night, but the team will begin the first round on either Sunday or Monday night at 8:00 p.m. MST. Game 2 will go Wednesday night at the same time.
There’s much Knoblauch is still hopeful for — mainly a healthy team.
“We’d definitely like better health, and we are looking like we’re getting close to that — the majority of guys are going to be ready for Game 1,” said Knoblauch.
The plan for the Oilers is to remain in Southern California, he added.
“We’re not sure about our playoff start time, so we’ll be staying here, having some practices around San Jose and then heading over to L.A. later in the week.”
It’s officially playoff season in Oil Country.
Zach Laing is Oilersnation’s associate editor, senior columnist, and The Nation Network’s news director. He also makes up one-half of the DFO DFS Report. He can be followed on Twitter, currently known as X, at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach.laing@bettercollective.com.
