Streaking Oilers chase franchise history vs. Lightning

Edmonton Oilers celebrate a goal against the Chicago Blackhawks during first period NHL action in Edmonton on Tuesday December 12, 2023.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson

The Edmonton Oilers will try to equal a franchise record when they seek their ninth straight victory Thursday in a matchup with the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning.

Edmonton, which had a miserable start to the season 5-12-1, has rebounded to win eight in a row under head coach Kris Knoblauch, who replaced Jay Woodcroft on Nov. 12. The Oilers opened the season as a strong Stanley Cup contender but then started 3-9-1 under Woodcroft.

It is the seventh time in franchise history that Edmonton has won eight straight games. They have won nine in a row twice: Feb. 20-March 13, 2001 and last season to end the regular season March 27-April 13.

The Oilers earned a 4-1 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Tuesday as Connor McDavid and Evan Bouchard each had two assists and Stuart Skinner made 22 saves. Leon Draisaitl scored his 12th goal, and Zach Hyman scored his 16th.

Knoblauch has tightened things dramatically on defense. Edmonton has outscored their opponents 39-13 during the winning streak with one shutout and four games allowing one goal. The turnaround has moved the Oilers within one point of the Arizona Coyotes for the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference.

"Right now, we're not in a playoff spot, we're chasing numerous teams to get into that spot," Knoblauch said. "So it's easy to maintain focus. It would be one thing if we were sitting on top of the standings and take the night off, not pick up our check and see what happens. But we don't have that luxury right now."

"I think we knew long-term success-wise, you have to do things the right way to win," Hyman said. "You have to do things the right way to win. You can't flip a switch and turn it on at the end of the year. You have to do it throughout the whole year, and that's the way you win."

McDavid, the reigning league scoring champ and MVP, has played a key role with 25 points (six goals, 19 assists) over a 10-game points streak.

Bouchard brings a 12-game point streak into Thursday's contest (five goals, 13 assists). It is the second-longest streak by an Oilers defenseman, behind only Hall of Famer Paul Coffey's 28-game point streak in 1985-86.

Skinner has won seven consecutive starts in goal.

"It's our job to just keep it going and keep on getting two points," Skinner said of the 13-12-5 Oilers. "Another big two points for us (against Chicago) for us to get above .500 here, so we've got to keep moving forward."

Tampa Bay, playing the fourth game of a five-game road trip, has dropped two of its last three games, including a 4-1 loss at Vancouver on Tuesday.

Brayden Point scored his 13th goal to give the Lightning a 1-0 lead after just 85 seconds, but Vancouver countered with four unanswered goals, including a hat trick by Brock Boeser, while Thatcher Demko stopped 28 shots.

"We had some looks," Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said. "We had enough scoring chances to get more than one goal, but we didn't. It's tough in this league sometimes. They kind of shut it down, the goalie was dialed in. We kept pushing. That third period we were probably in their end for three-quarters of the period."

Defenseman Victor Hedman missed the loss with an upper-body injury and is listed as day-to-day. Tampa Bay finishes the trip Saturday at Calgary.

--Field Level Media