Happy New Year, everybody. 2022 was up and down like a toilet seat in Oil Country, and we hope to follow up a fun playoff run with another trip past the first two rounds. But before the Oilers can attempt that, they have just one half of regular season hockey left. They’re in the 1st wild card spot in the Western Conference, but teams below them have played three or four fewer games. Having Leon Draisaitl miss time with injury mid-way through the week and Klim Kostin giving us a scare when getting hurt at the very end of Saturday night’s game was not the start to the new year that their team wanted. Draisaitl is the MVP after McDavid, and Kostin has been a pleasant surprise for the forward group. As I type this, Leon has been listed as day-to-day with a core muscle strain, and Klim’s injury looked more serious until Oilersnation showed an Instagram post of him with McDavid wishing everyone a happy New Year and saying, “Ready for Tuesday💪😉”; so at least he’s no worse for wear. It’s tough to have more players out of the lineup when being happy about Evander Kane possibly coming back earlier than expected. Here’s hoping that the year 2023 starts with speedy recoveries. This week’s opponents are…
Tuesday, January 3rd at 7 pm vs. Seattle Kraken
The second meeting in less than a full week between these teams. The first meeting saw Edmonton have by far their best start of the season, taking a 4-0 lead in just the first ten minutes of the game and ultimately winning 7-2. Although I mentioned last week that Seattle overachieved a bit, it was an absolute shocker to see Edmonton be THAT dominant in an important game against a division rival. I don’t expect another start like that, just win, but it was a fun change of pace.
Thursday, January 5th at 7 pm vs. New York Islanders
Ilya Sorokin stoned Edmonton with a 49 save shutout the last time these teams met in late November. It feels more just to get goalie’d by a #1 netminder as opposed to getting goalie’d by the backup or third-string netminder. After a pretty slow start to the season, they find themselves in a wild card spot, just like the Oilers. While Edmonton’s trip to the Conference Finals was fun last season, they should also take note of the Isles having two Final Four trips in a row not long ago, only to miss the playoffs the following season. It’s a lesson in consistency and long-term competitiveness.
Saturday, January 7th at 8 pm vs. Colorado Avalanche
Speaking of Conference Final matchups, a rematch against the team that swept Edmonton in the third round and then won the Cup. As much as Oilers fans worry about key injuries being a factor this season, pro athletes won’t always use that as an excuse for slumping records. The injury bug has also been unfair to the Avs, to the point where they practically iced an AHL forward group outside of Mikko Rantanen. Nathan MacKinnon came back from injury just this past weekend. Alex Georgiev has made use of his time to not be a backup goalie after seeing his time in the Big Apple limited by Igor Shesterkin. I think Colorado got slightly, just slightly, worse on paper in the summer, but they are still a team not to take lightly.
