Oilers fine-tune details to become hottest NHL team since U.S. Thanksgiving

Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid, centre, is congratulated after his goal on Boston Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman during NHL action on Jan. 7, 2025, in Boston. (Charles Krupa/Associated Press)

It's not last year's torrid mid-season performance, but it's close.

The Edmonton Oilers have been the hottest National Hockey League team since American Thanksgiving, that often-accurate divining rod applied to the standings at the season's quarter pole to predict which teams will and won't make the playoffs.

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The Oilers, who had a record of 11-9-2 in 22 games played through point Nov. 28, sat out of the post-season picture that day, one point behind the Vancouver Canucks for the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference and three behind the Pacific Division third-seeded Los Angeles Kings.

They have gone on a tear in the 18 games since, going 14-3-1 to vault into second place in the Pacific close to the season's halfway point with a record of 25-12-3 in 40 games, two points ahead of the Kings and eight points up on the Canucks, who still occupy that last wild-card position.

Last season after firing Jay Woodcroft in mid-November and hiring Kris Knoblauch to replace him, the Oilers turned their season around in extraordinary fashion over a three-month stretch, going 26-6 before losing to the Vegas Golden Knights to end a near-record 16-game win streak.

Edmonton Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch behind the bench during NHL action against the Colorado Avalanche on Nov. 30, 2024, in Denver. (David Zalubowski/Associated Press)Speaking to media after Tuesday's 4-0 win over the host Boston Bruins for Edmonton's fourth win in a row, Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch said while he and his team are "happy with our game" – he praised the effort of all four of the Oilers' forward lines at Boston's TD Garden – his coaching staff's attitude is they're "always looking to get better, and if we're not looking to get better, we're getting complacent."

"There are teams that are playing better than us, ahead of us in the standings, and there are teams that want to catch us, and if we're not getting better every day, we're going to get passed, and we're not going to be able to catch those other teams that we feel we can play better than," Knoblauch told reporters.

"This last month or so, we've been winning some games, but it's far from being perfect. We need stuff to work on."

The 14-3-1 run that's collected 29 points for the Oilers is the best in the NHL over the last six weeks, followed closely by the Pacific-leading Golden Knights (who've gone 14-3 and lead the Oilers by six points heading into NHL action Wednesday) and the Toronto Maple Leafs (14-6).

Edmonton Oilers centre Leon Draisaitl, left, celebrates his empty net goal against the Seattle Kraken with Viktor Arvidsson (33), Vasily Podkolzin (92) and Mattias Ekholm (14) during NHL action on Jan. 4, 2025, in Seattle. (Lindsey Wasson/Associated Press)Predictably, both Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid have been leading the offensive charge for Edmonton since Nov. 28.

Mirroring the current list of NHL leading scorers, Draisaitl has scored the most goals in the league over the last six weeks (13) and is second to Colorado Avalanche star Nathan MacKinnon in points during that time (29 to MacKinnon's 31). Draisaitl leads the league this season in goals with 29. His 59 points in 40 games is second to MacKinnon's 66 in 41.

McDavid, who scored his first goal since Dec. 19 in the Oilers' win on Tuesday, is fourth among NHL scorers since American Thanksgiving with 27 points (five goals, 22 assists). He's sixth in overall scoring, with 16 goals and 39 assists for 55 points in 27 games played.

Draisaitl said after the Oilers' home-ice win Saturday over the Anaheim Ducks that he takes satisfaction in leading the charge.

"I take big pride in stepping up when it's needed most. It's always something that is really important to me," said Draisaitl, whose latest points streak ended at 14 games on Tuesday in Boston.

"Some years it seems to go your way, and in certain moments and other years it doesn't. That's just the way this league works, but I always say, 'I'll take it.'"

Edmonton Oilers forward Zach Hyman skates past the San Jose Sharks' bench after scoring on Dec. 21, 2024. (Timothy Matwey/The Canadian Press)Other Oilers players who've made an impact over the last six weeks include:

• Zach Hyman, who scored 10 goals over a nine-game span after returning to the lineup from an injury. He hasn't scored in the six games since, but Hyman -- a regular linemate of McDavid's and last season's top Oilers' goal-scorer with 54 who'd deposited just three pucks behind goalies in 20 games played to start 2024-25 before he was injured -- has 15 points in 15 games over the last six weeks.
• Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who's scored eight goals and 14 points in 17 games since Nov. 28 after starting the season with two goals and seven assists;
• Connor Brown, the winger who's been a regular on the Oilers' third and fourth lines but has seen time alongside McDavid has scored three goals and nine assists for 12 points in the last 18 games. The 30-year-old has six goals and 13 assists for 19 points in 40 games played this season; and
• Evan Bouchard, who while quiet on the goals-scored side over the last 18 games with just one power-play goal, has 14 assists as well -- 10 of them even-strength. The top-pairing defenceman has played all 40 Oilers games this season, scoring seven goals and 23 assists for 30 points.

Edmonton Oilers centre Adam Henrique, left, is congratulated by Zach Hyman (18) after his goal against the Boston Bruins during NHL action on Jan. 7, 2025, in Boston. (Charles Krupa/Associated Press)One significant development over the six-week span is the resurgence of the Oilers' power play. It has recovered from its early season doldrums and has been the league's best the last six weeks, scoring on 34.1 per cent of its opportunities. It now has a 23.8-per-cent success rate through 40 games, good for 11th in the NHL. Before that, the power play was languishing, going 15.8 per cent over the first 22 games of 2024-25 to sit 27th.

Edmonton has also been holding opponents in check on the shot clock all season, averaging 26.3 shots against per game. That's good for fifth among NHL teams.

Third-line centre Adam Henrique said Oilers players continue to work on their game to allow them to play their game.

"It's just the details of our game, areas that we talk about a lot about: the middle of the ice and not giving (that) up, and that takes everybody," Henrique said Tuesday.

"It's a complete team thing, and guys know that's an area that we always have to take care of, no matter who we're playing."