Monday’s Thoughts: Lack of a long winning streak

I love researching historical and current stats and records, whether it’s 100 point seasons, 50 goal seasons, most wins, most losses, best Sv%, most shots. It does not matter. I’m enjoying it, and with the Edmonton Oilers on a six-game winning streak, I thought about their complete lack of long winning streaks.

The Oilers’ longest winning streak was nine games in the 2000-2001 season. Arizona, Dallas, Detroit, Los Angeles and Winnipeg are the other franchises that have never had a 10-game winning streak.

Arizona, Detroit, LA, Edmonton have each won nine in a row, while Dallas and Winnipeg have won seven. The Stars set their franchise record earlier this season.

Edmonton is the only NHL franchise that hasn’t had a seven-game winning streak in the last 20 years. All teams, except for Dallas and Winnipeg, have won at least eight games in a row, and 22 teams have had streaks of 10 games or more over the past two decades.

Here is a chart of all 32 teams. “WS” is the longest winning streak they’ve had, “(#)” is the number of eight-game winning streaks they’ve had since 2001, and “YEAR” is the last year they’ve won eight in a row. Mind you, Dallas and Winnipeg have never done it, hence the shutout, but they have won at least seven in a row, which Edmonton hasn’t done since 2001.

Seattle has had seven- and eight-game winning streaks this season and is only in its second year as an NHL team. For any Kraken fans looking to cheer on the rivalry, Vancouver has only two 7+ game winning streaks in franchise history. The Oilers and Maple Leafs will be on long streaks, especially considering they are easier to achieve in the shootout era. There are no more bands. Neither organization has had a seven-game winning streak since the shootout came in 2006.

The Oilers have won six games in a row five times since 2002:
March 14-26, 2002. Series ended with a 3-2 loss to LA.
October 22 to November 3, 2011. Lost Game 7 4-2 to Phoenix.
December 2 to December 15, 2015. Streak ended with a 4-2 loss to the New York Rangers.
March 28 to April 7, 2022. Streak ended with a SO loss to Colorado.
January 11 to present.

Edmonton may never have a better opportunity to go on a long winning streak than right now. They have won six in a row and their next seven games are against Columbus (32nd in the league), Chicago (30th) Detroit (24th), Philadelphia (23rd), Ottawa (25th), Montreal ( 26th) and Detroit (24th) .

Edmonton is 8-2 against bottom 10 teams in the league this season. Edmonton and Seattle have played the fewest games against bottom 10 teams thus far, and have the most favorable remaining schedule among the current 16 playoff teams. The next three weeks offer a huge opportunity for the Oilers to continue climbing up the NHL standings, but also to go on a long streak that has eluded them over the past 20 seasons.

There is always a lot of talk about which division is the best. Most of the playoff teams have a .750P% or higher against bottom-10 teams, but their records against the other 21 teams are much closer.

Here’s a quick look at East v. West v. bottom-10 teams (BT) and then the rest of the league.

Seattle has struggled the most against BT teams, winning just five of 10 games, but they have 22 wins against the rest of the NHL. Minnesota has dominated bad teams, but won just 11 of 28 games against more competitive teams.

Calgary is ninth in the West, but they have only played 11 games against BT (6-2-3). The Flames are 16-14-6 against the rest of the league, and with a softer remaining schedule than Minnesota, the Wild will need to improve significantly against the rest of the league if they hope to stay in a playoff spot.

The Oilers have been very good since Christmas. They have the third most points, third best P%, are first in goals for/GP at 4.00 and fourth in goals against/GP at 2.62. They are second in 5×5 goals and seventh in 5×5 goals against. Combine their recent play with an upcoming smoother schedule and the Oilers might finally find that long winning streak that has eluded them for two decades.