The Edmonton Oilers are having a bit of deja vu with how this season has turned out through the first few months.
While it’s true that the team is in a much better position than they were at this point last season, there are still several eerie similarities between the two years so far. That could be taken as a positive sign as the Oilers are hoping to once again fight their way to a Stanley Cup Final berth.
Here are three narratives that have come around for the second straight season for this Oilers club.
McDavid heating up after slow start
The thing with Connor McDavid is that he has set the bar so high for fans that even if he is producing at a slightly slow pace, it seems like an anomaly.
Last season, there was some early panic around the Oilers captain after he scored just 10 points in 11 games. That would be a great pace for any other player, but it was a little below what’s expected from McDavid. Of course, he ended the season with 132 points and broke Wayne Gretzky’s assists record in the playoffs.
This season has started the same with McDavid getting 10 points through the first 11 games and some fans being concerned. As we reach the Christmas break, McDavid is back to his usual self and sits at 44 points in 28 games.
Nothing to worry about, we should really stop worrying about #97.
Stu Skinner finding his game late
Goaltending may be the biggest similarity between the two seasons as it was a huge storyline through the first few months of both this year and the last.
Jack Campbell and Stuart Skinner were awful to start the 2023-24 season before the latter finally found his game in December. Those first two months, however, were brutal as Skinner held a disappointing 8-7-1 record and a putrid .881 SV%. However, he went on to record a 42-18-4 record and a .910 SV% the rest of the way.
So far this season, it’s been nearly an exact repeat. Through the first two months, Skinner has an 8-6-2 record and a slightly better .887 SV%. Since the calendar has flipped to December, the Edmonton native has been much better with a 3-2-0 record and a .906 SV%.
December winning streak
Winning streaks are very important in the NHL if you want to be a top team. It will be hard to place within the upper echelon of the standings if you can’t string together consecutive wins.
That was a challenge early on for the Oilers last season as it took them until December 6 to record their first five-game winning streak of the year. This eventually led to a bigger 16-game winning streak that started later that month.
It’s been a similar struggle with this year’s team. They were able to bank a few three-game winning streaks over the first two months but it wasn’t until December that they truly hit their stride with a five-game winning streak that stretched from December 5 to 14.