Oilers enter holiday break on an NHL tear
It was a year ago Sunday when the Edmonton Oilers had won their second game in a row after losing the previous three outings.
Little did they know that the Dec. 22, 2023, win over the New York Rangers was No. 2 of 16 straight wins, a streak that ran a month and a half and fell shy of the National Hockey League record by just one.
That Friday night a year ago saw the Oilers sitting well back of the post-season pack, five points behind the Arizona Coyotes for the final Western Conference wildcard seed in 12th place with a record of 15-15-1. It was 18 games into Kris Knoblauch's tenure as head coach after he replaced Jay Woodcroft on Nov. 12, 2023, when the Oilers had stumbled to a 3-9-1 start to the season.
By the end of the regular season, the Oilers finished second in the Pacific Division – five points behind the first-place Vegas Golden Knights – with 49 wins and 104 points.
And, oh yeah, they took their NHL playoff run to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup final.
Knoblauch said the trials the Oilers have experienced, whether last season with him as bench boss or beforehand, have benefited them.
"We learned a lot from last year, whether it was through the regular season, definitely the experience that we had through the playoffs, but even prior to that, you think about before I got here, the playoff runs that they had, the matchups they had, the heartbreaking losses and the times they were on winning streaks, whatever it is, but the more games you have, there's a lot of importance on just experience," Knoblauch told media after Edmonton's 3-1 win Sunday over the visiting Ottawa Senators.
"We've got a lot of games played in that room, so they've got a lot of experience, and all that experience helps out handling mostly adversity."
The victory was the 11th in their last 13 games. The Oilers (21-11-2) sit in second place in the Pacific heading into Monday's NHL action among 26 teams.
Winger Zach Hyman, who continued a scoring tear on Sunday with at least one goal for the sixth game in a row, said the Oilers are "doing (their) best" to win and to limit losses.
"We've been doing a pretty good job at that lately. The way that we've been playing in all ends of the ice has been very consistent," said Hyman, who's scored 10 goals in his last nine games and now has 13 on the season to go with six assists for 19 points in 29 games played.
The Oilers started a five-day break over the holidays on Monday. The entire league takes a break on Tuesday through Thursday. Edmonton returns to action on Saturday in Los Angeles (2 p.m. MT).
"(We're) heading into the break just trying to relax a bit, kick the legs up for a bit, so that we can feel rested coming into the rest of the season," Hyman said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING 5 rescued after avalanche triggered north of Whistler, B.C. RCMP say
Emergency crews and heli-skiing staff helped rescue five people who were caught up in a backcountry avalanche north of Whistler, B.C., on Monday morning.
Quebec fugitive killed in Mexican resort town, RCMP say
RCMP are confirming that a fugitive, Mathieu Belanger, wanted by Quebec provincial police has died in Mexico, in what local media are calling a murder.
Bill Clinton hospitalized with a fever but in good spirits, spokesperson says
Former President Bill Clinton was admitted Monday to Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington after developing a fever.
Trump again calls to buy Greenland after eyeing Canada and the Panama Canal
First it was Canada, then the Panama Canal. Now, Donald Trump again wants Greenland. The president-elect is renewing unsuccessful calls he made during his first term for the U.S. to buy Greenland from Denmark, adding to the list of allied countries with which he's picking fights even before taking office.
Pioneering Métis human rights advocate Muriel Stanley Venne dies at 87
Muriel Stanley Venne, a trail-blazing Métis woman known for her Indigenous rights advocacy, has died at 87.
King Charles ends royal warrants for Ben & Jerry's owner Unilever and Cadbury chocolatiers
King Charles III has ended royal warrants for Cadbury and Unilever, which owns brands including Marmite and Ben & Jerry’s, in a blow to the household names.
Man faces murder charges in death of woman who was lit on fire in New York City subway
A man is facing murder charges in New York City for allegedly setting a woman on fire inside a subway train and then watching her die after she was engulfed in flames, police said Monday.
Canada regulator sues Rogers for alleged misleading claims about data offering
Canada's antitrust regulator said on Monday it was suing Rogers Communications Inc, for allegedly misleading consumers about offering unlimited data under some phone plans.
Multiple OnlyFans accounts featured suspected child sex abuse, investigator reports
An experienced child exploitation investigator told Reuters he reported 26 accounts on the popular adults-only website OnlyFans to authorities, saying they appeared to contain sexual content featuring underage teen girls.