The Edmonton Oilers took advantage of home ice these last two weeks by winning some key hockey games and gaining a lot of ground in the Pacific Division playoff chase. It was a strong homestand for Edmonton, arguably their best in the last five or six years.
The team must now finish what they started by handling business on their four game road trip. Edmonton went 1-3-1 on their last extended roadie, only beating Pittsburgh in the shootout while getting beaten badly in both Carolina and Toronto. It was, to put it politely, a tough road trip for the team.
Things are a little different for the Oilers now, however. They’ve got a few more wins under their belt and they have also built up some much needed confidence.
As big as this last homestand was, this road trip is arguably even bigger. In fact, I’ll go on the record as saying that this homestand is a bigger deal.
The Road Map:
Edmonton will start things off on Monday night in Boston before heading to New York to battle the Rangers on Tuesday. It doesn’t get easier from there as the Oil will head to Chicago on Thursday night to battle the Hawks, then finish the trip in Colorado on Saturday, December 19th.
It will be the team’s lone visit to both New York and Boston while it’ll be the second and final visit in Chicago and first in Colorado on the season.
The Opponents:
The Oilers played the Bruins quite well and beat them earlier in the season at Rexall Place. Winning in Boston, however, has proven to be quite a difficult task for this club. It’s been over ten years since Edmonton walked out of Beantown with two points. It’s a house of horrors, to put it simply.
The Oilers and Rangers always play tight games at Madison Square Garden, in fact the Oilers have won the last two meetings between the sides there. That said, it’s on the second half of back-to-back tilts which makes it quite a difficult task to get the victory.
Edmonton has actually played quite well against the Hawks this season. They deserved better than a 4-2 loss when they first met, as Edmonton dominated for 40 minutes. In the second meeting, Edmonton was clearly the better team but lost in overtime, a tough decision to take.
Lastly, the Oilers will battle a Colorado Avalanche team that lacks goaltending and defense. The Avs are not a strong team and they surrender quite a few goals and chances against. This match-up is easily the most favorable for the Oilers, in fact I’d call this a must win game for them.
Prediction:
In my mind, the Oilers need to go 3-1-0 on this road trip to really keep the ball moving in the right direction. Realistically, that would mean beating Boston, Chicago and Colorado. It certainly is not easy, but if the Oilers want to keep chugging towards a playoff spot, they’ll need to find a way to pull off the 3-1-0 record.
Will they do it? I’m not overly optimistic that they can, and I’ll project that the team goes .500 on this trip by winning two games. That seems like a more obtainable goal.
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