After an abysmal start to the 2023-24 campaign, the Edmonton Oilers are on an absolute tear as of late. The Oil have won 11 straight games, and are 21-6 since new head coach Kris Knoblauch took over on Nov. 12.
Now 24-15-1 and just one point back of the Los Angeles Kings for the No. 3 spot in the Pacific Division, this is looking a lot more like the Stanley Cup contender hockey fans expected at the beginning of the season.
“I think it’s just a maturity level that we’re reaching that obviously needs to continue to develop and get better,” center Leon Draisaitl explained after Tuesday's 4-2 win over the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs, per NHL.com's Derek Van Diest.
“If you do it a couple of times and you win a couple of games late, you build trust in that and you build that level of comfort in knowing there’s no rush to open it up to try and score in the first minute of the third period to tie it up.”
It's truly been an incredible turnaround for an Edmonton team that was 2-9-1 and tied for 32nd in National Hockey League standings on the 9th day of November. Fast forward about two months, and the Oilers are the best team in the league in that span; the club has gone 19-3 since Nov. 24.
“It feels great, winning always feels great, but we’ve worked extremely hard to put ourselves back into it,” Draisaitl continued. “By no means are we anywhere where we can let off the gas. That’s something that we need to be aware of. That’s something that we did a great job of that tonight and we’re not even halfway through the season. There’s lots of hockey left to be played.”
Oilers continue to roll
After taking the eventual Stanley Cup champion Vegas Golden Knights to six games in the 2023 second-round, Edmonton will be looking for better results come April.
But the recent regular-season success has recaptured belief that this team can make a deep run when the time comes.
“We’re enjoying it, absolutely. We’d be ignorant to say it’s not on our minds, and it’s not something we feel good about,” Knoblauch explained after his team's latest victory.
“But I think what’s more important is when we look at the standings, we’re in the playoff picture right now, we have a wild card and see teams right behind us, and if we take a couple of games off, we’re going to be out of the playoff picture again. But then we’re also looking at teams above us, we’re within striking distance and we can pass those guys. The streak is nice, but the standings is more important.”
The Oilers haven't lost a game since a 3-1 defeat to the New York Islanders on Dec. 19, and the NHL's hottest team will look to make it a ridiculous 12 straight with the Seattle Kraken in town on Thursday night.
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