Despite all of the accomplishments in their glorious past, the Edmonton Oilers head into Saturday’s road clash with the Montreal Canadiens looking to net the first perfect 10 in franchise history.
Having matched the mark for nine consecutive victories with Thursday’s 3-2 overtime win over the Detroit Red Wings, the Oilers have the opportunity to set a new standard.
“Considering how many great teams they had in the 1980s, with all those Stanley Cups (five championships in seven seasons), I’m shocked they didn’t have a run longer than nine games,” coach Kris Knoblauch said. “That feels good, but we need to keep piling up wins.”
After starting the season with only five victories in their first 18 games, the Oilers have been piling up the wins. They are on a 17-3-0 run, including their current streak which matches the mark set twice before, including late last season.
Leading the way, to no surprise, is captain Connor McDavid, who has a nine-game point streak in which he has amassed five goals and 15 points. McDavid, who will celebrate his 27th birthday on Saturday, moved into a tie with Glenn Anderson for fourth place on the franchise’s all-time list with 906 points.
Forward Zach Hyman has scored eight goals in eight games. He has a team-high 26 goals this season. McDavid leads the team with 40 assists and 56 points.
The Oilers have climbed during their run from 31st in the league and are now gunning for a top-three place in the Pacific Division.
“We came into this season with a lot of confidence, and things didn’t go our way off the hop,” said Darnell Nurse, who scored the winning goal in Detroit. “We could have easily let it continue to snowball, but we found a way to dig ourselves out of it.”
Meanwhile, the Canadiens appear to be falling further and further down a hole.
Montreal opened a homestand with a 3-2 loss to the San Jose Sharks on Thursday, when the league’s last-place squad snapped a 12-game losing skid.
“I don’t think that they took the game, by any means,” Canadiens defenseman Mike Matheson said. “I think what they got we gave to them. And even with that, I think we still had a chance to win, and so it’s frustrating to let those two points go.”
The loss leaves the Canadiens with a 2-5-1 record in their last eight games. Montreal has lost eight consecutive home games to San Jose since last beating the Sharks on March 21, 2015.
“I don’t know if it was necessarily our opponent that caused us to play the way we did tonight,” Matheson said Thursday. “I think the fact of the matter is we just needed to be better.”
The defeat is the latest disappointment at home for a Canadiens squad that started the season on a roll but has been sliding down the standings since mid-November.
Montreal has managed only three victories in its last 13 home games, as it hits the middle contest in a three-game homestand
“It’s two (consecutive) games that we’re lacking execution,” coach Martin St. Louis said. “We’re not sharp like we’ve been before. We’re going to regroup and prepare for Saturday.”
–Field Level Media