A Tale Of Two Oilers: Edmonton Is Closing In On Consecutive Wins Record After Abysmal Start To The Season

As far as ups and downs are concerned, no team in the NHL has had a wilder year than the Edmonton Oilers.

The Oilers won their 14th consecutive game on Tuesday night — a 4-1 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackers — which puts them in striking distance for the NHL's consecutive wins record.

The league record for most consecutive games won is 17 and was set by the 1992-93 Pittsburgh Penguins.

So, the Oilers can tie that with wins against the Blackhawks (very doable), Predators (a little bit tougher), and Golden Knights (significantly tougher). If they check all those boxes, they can break the record on February 9 in Anaheim.

Stuart Skinner's early season struggles are a thing of the past. (Credit: Eric Bolte-USA TODAY Sports)

Oilers Are Overcoming Shockingly Bad Start

While it may not feel super surprising to see the Oilers go on a run like this — considering they've got Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl on their roster and were one of the preseason favorites to win the Cup — you have to consider what has happened to the Oilers throughout this season.

The 14-game winning streak got started on December 19, but despite that many wins in a row, the team's record is only 27-15-1, good for third in the Pacific Division. That's a great record at this point in the season, but the point is to think where it could have been had the team not stumbled out of the gates.

Truthfully, the Oilers more than stumbled. They fell flat on their faces.

Thanks to their recent successes, it's easy to forget that from the start of the season through the 13 games, this season looked like it was going to be a write-off. Edmonton went 3-9-1 to start the season, and while a portion of that stretch involved Connor McDavid being out of the lineup, it was bad enough to cost former head coach Jay Woodcroft his job.

In came Kris Knoblauch — who coached McDavid in the OHL — and things started to turn around for the Oilers.

However, they hit another problem: starting goaltender Stuart Skinner lost his mojo a la Austin Powers. The team shipped him down to the Bakersfield Condors of the AHL to recover it.

And recover it he did. Skinner is on an 11-game winning streak of his own.

Connor McDavid always puts up monster numbers but the Oilers are seeing a much-needed influx of depth scoring. (Credit: Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports)

Could Depth Scoring Make This Team A Cup Contender?

Additionally, the Oilers are seeing more production from players not named McDavid or Draisaitl. Yeah, watching those guys drop jaw-dropping points totals during the regular season. But the lack of secondary scoring has kept the Oilers from making a Stanley Cup run.

However, this year, seven skaters have already cracked the 20-point plateau with Warren Foegele knocking on the door with 19. Evander Kane is currently on pace for one of his best seasons in years.

So, could this team — which made a coaching change mid-season after an abysmal start — really be a Cup threat?

I think so. It's happened before. This sort of reminds me of the 2019 St. Louis Blues. That team was almost last in the league around New Year's Day. Then they brought in Craig Berube and went on a run.

That team had the depth, but they didn't have the firepower of McDavid and Draisaitl. The Oilers have both.

If they have some strong goaltending from Stuart Skinner too, the Western Conference needs to be on notice.

Follow on X: @Matt_Reigle