The wins over the Vegas Golden Knights and Colorado Avalanche were both tidy and exciting: showcasing a brand of low-event, structured puck in Nevada, and then a dynamic attack off the rush of old in Denver, matching one of the best 5-on-5 scoring teams in modern history.

These are victories we know the Oilers are capable of when they are on their game, but have not been able to sustain.

Then the losses to Dallas and St. Louis harkened us back to early November, when the team was getting blown out by better competition, or blowing two-goal leads against teams below them in the standings.

The 7-2 loss to the Stars was the fifth time this season that Edmonton has allowed seven goals or more, and the third time they’ve lost by a margin of five or more.

The 3-2 overtime loss to the Blues was the sixth time this season that Edmonton has lost a game while leading by two goals, and the second time since the Olympic break (Anaheim). Four times in the first 15 games of 2025-26, the Oilers couldn’t clamp down on a multi-goal lead to ensure a win.

If the Oilers can add this mucky, aesthetically unpleasing game to their repertoire, as they tried in St. Louis, it will do wonders for their place in the standings.

Tonight’s game against the Predators is smack dab in the middle of an eight-game, 14-night stretch, too.

With a team of baby Sharks chopping laps around them, the Oilers need to figure out their game on home ice: Ten of their last 15 games are at Rogers Place.

Record this week: 2-1-1
Record vs Central “Big Three”: 1-6-1
Home record in 2026: 6-7-1

This week:

Home vs Nashville on Sunday
Home vs San Jose on Tuesday
Home vs Florida on Thursday
Home vs Tampa Bay on Saturday

The anger Sharks are swimming in my head

Macklin Celebrini had his 41st career multi-point game, the 7th most all-time by a teenager, in a 4-2 victory for San Jose over Montreal on Saturday night. With his Hart Trophy-calibre play, the Sharks are 5-1-2 in their last eight games, and three points back of the Oilers with three games in hand.

Both teams play on Sunday.

Edmonton has slid back to eighth in points percentage in the Western Conference, a less-than-ideal trend. Vegas has overtaken the Pacific for the time being, three points ahead of the Oilers, with the Ducks sandwiched in between.

I’d wager the teams in the playoff picture right now will finish with a spot, while Seattle, Los Angeles, and Nashville will be on the outside looking in.

According to Moneypuck’s playoff odds, the Oilers have a 77 per cent chance to clinch. The Sharks are at 55 per cent, Kings at 37.1 per cent, Kraken at 34.3 per cent, and Preds at 23.4 per cent.

With 18 games remaining, San Jose has an even split of home and road games. The Oilers and Sabres are the only two current playoff teams the Sharks will face in the last eight games in March.

Columbus might be there by the time they play on March 28, but overall, the Sharks have few tough games.

They’ll play the Oilers and Ducks twice each – those are the only current playoff teams, just five out of 18. There’s a handful of “hinge” matchups too against bubble teams: Nashville (3x), St. Louis (2x), and Winnipeg (1x). They’ll play Chicago twice yet, and the Canucks again.

So there’s real drama and emphasis towards the four-point swing games the Oilers have against the Sharks.

With that said, games in hand are nice, but that also means a truncated SJ schedule in April. They’ll play three back-to-backs and 10 games overall in 16 nights. Standings watch is well and truly on.

Gudas ban still too light

Radko Gudas has done a better job toeing the line since he entered the league back in 2012.

He hasn’t been suspended since February 2019. Therefore, Gudas has avoided the verbiage of “repeat offender” under the terms of the collective bargaining agreement, which counts supplemental discipline over the past two years.

However, after he was handed five games by the usually absent NHL Department of Player Safety for his knee-on-knee hit on Auston Matthews, his career suspension count is five, with a total of 26 games lost.

In other words, he’s no stranger to league punishment.

His hit on Auston Matthews was so dirty that I believe a longer suspension was warranted, totalling eight to ten games, if not more.

I don’t have an axe to grind personally against Gudas. For example, his collision with Sidney Crosby at the Olympics wasn’t a dirty hit, more of an unfortunate result with Crosby’s right leg buckling underneath him before the hit arrived.

This play on Matthews, though, cannot be tolerated.

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Radko Gudas goes knee-on-knee with Auston Matthews. Gudas received a minute major pending review. Auston Matthews was down for a while but has gotten back to his feet.

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12:30 AM · Mar 13, 2026

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Sure, I never played in the NHL, never played hockey at a high-level. I don’t know what runs through a player’s mind in a fast-paced, snap situation like this.

But this ought to be considered among the dirtiest things a player can do on the ice. It is relevant that the player Gudas hit is one of the biggest faces of the game in Auston Matthews, because the NHL has a reputation for not protecting its stars.

The last suspension for kneeing was Arthur Kaliyev on Chase De Leo in October 2023. Kaliyev received a four-game ban (two pre-season, two regular-season). Coincidentally, Kaliyev was seeing red after just getting dumped by Gudas.

In total, I count five kneeing-related suspensions in the 2020s. This punishment on Gudas is the most severe of the lot, as Jason Spezza’s retaliatory knee on Neal Pionk was reduced from six games to four back in 2021.

It is not severe enough.

This was an opportunity to make an example of Gudas, for the league to say full-throated, we cannot have this instinct in the game, and this mistake will cost you.

On the other hand, the Department of Player Safety has been so laissez-faire on punishments this season, I’m surprised Gudas even received five games. The only people who should be more embarrassed than the Department of Player Safety is the Maple Leafs on the ice who didn’t respond.

Backhanded compliment

Count me in on the Buffalo Sabres bandwagon.

They’ve been bizarrely good since firing Kevyn Adams, an astounding 27-6-2, and could legitimately be the one-seed in the Eastern Conference. Colton Parayko may not have said yes, but that’s his loss.

Things have turned around so much for the Sabres, they were not invaded on Saturday night by Maple Leafs fans like normal the past 15-plus years.

“This is one of the first times I’ve played here when it didn’t feel like a home game, which sucks because it’s nice to have our fans here, but good for Buffalo coming out,” said Toronto’s Joseph Woll.

“Pretty exciting building tonight.”

Away games in Buffalo have become the people’s home game for Leafs fans, who instead get invaded by suits at their home rink. Friggin’ rights Buffalo.

History in Utah?

I’ve been doing my Kris Knoblauch 1000-yard stare at the NHL standings a lot more recently, as you can tell above, and noticed the Edmonton Oilers haven’t won a shootout game this season, going 0-3.

Taking a peak at shootout records, and something unique is brewing for the Utah Mammoth. They have not gone to a shootout this season, the only team to avoid the skills competition in 2025-26. Every other team has played a minimum of three games past 65 minutes.

Utah and Edmonton are the only teams in the league to not win a game in the shootout this year.

This sent me down a rabbit hole, and if my late-night, bourbon-fuelled eyes are correct, there’s only been one team since the shootout’s inception to go a full-season without one: the 2020-21 Edmonton Oilers of the Canadian Division.

Meanwhile, there are some curious shootout records.

Pittsburgh is 1-10, for example. That’s a lot of points left on the table. The 32nd-place Vancouver Canucks are 5-2. The upstart Anaheim Ducks are a perfect 8-0.

More obscure, the 2013-14 season had a couple bizarre shootout records. The Washington Capitals went to a shootout 21 times that season, going 10-11. Most impressive, the New Jersey Devils, who went 0-13 in the shootout. Yikes!

Gallagher scratched

Edmonton’s own Brendan Gallagher has carved out a tremendous NHL career for an unheralded fifth-round pick, on the cusp of 900 games, and 16 points away from 500.

However, the 33-year-old’s days as an everyday player may be coming to a close. Gallagher was a healthy scratch on Saturday night for the first time in his career.

“I’m pretty sure he took it better than me (in his own playing career),” said coach Martin St. Louis. “It’s not easy, considering all he’s represented to the Canadiens over the years. But it’s where we’re at in the schedule, with our depth. We’ll move forward, continue to evaluate, and Gally is a pro.”

It’s a sign of the times in Montreal, who have successfully rebuilt after the surprise 2021 Stanley Cup Final appearance, with seven of their top eight leading scorers 26-and-younger.

Gallagher has six goals and 20 points on the year, with one season remaining on his $6.5 million annual contract. Josh Anderson, a similar veteran who’s struggling to produce, seemed upset by the move.

“It’s really hard. That guy bleeds the logo. What he means to our group, on and off the ice, it’s really hard,” he said. “I don’t know to say. We all love the guy. We know what he brings to the team. It’s hard.”

The Habs are likely in the post-season, but where they finish and who’ll they play could go a variety of directions down the stretch. How St. Louis will deploy Gallagher moving forward is a curiosity for me.

Gallagher will be re-inserted into the lineup Sunday. Is he a lineup lock when they play Game 1 of the first round?

Michael Menzies is an Oilersnation columnist and has been the play-by-play voice of the Bonnyville Pontiacs in the AJHL since 2019. With seven years news experience as the Editor-at-Large of Lakeland Connect in Bonnyville, he also collects vinyl, books, and stomach issues.