Oilers prepare for the stretch run
With approximately 3/4 of the CPHL season ellapsed it's the stretch drive of March. For most of the season the Edmonton Oilers have struggled to find consistancy, and were a very large over achiever. A talented squad from the outset the team came out of the gets with an abysmal 1-5-1 record. They responded to get back to the .500 mark 6 games later only to go back into another skid of losing. That pattern has pretty much continued on for the next 50 games as the team currently has 66 points in 64 games and is a season high 2 games over the .500 mark.
Recently the Oilers have been on a 7 game winning streak which has propelled them back into the playoff race as they are currently tied with two other teams for the final playoff position in the Howe Conference. The win streak has been impressive but when one considers that it includes 2 wins against the failing Coyotes, and wins against the likes of Philly, Calgary, New York Islanders it puts into perspective who the team has been beating of late. Still with the CPHL being somewhat unpredictable, winning all these games is a positive sign. After a mid season GM change the team has made a few moves to try and shake things up. The team has less talent than it did before but hopefully the guys in place fit better with each other than the underachieving bunch before did.
Is this recent winning streak just an amplified case of what has transpired all season where the Oilers have slumps to fall out of things, than win a few to get back into the picture? Or is this the sign of a team who's been in a funk all year finally getting a better mix and starting to play up to their potential which suggests a much better team than what the current results have yielded. In terms of CPHL team stats the Oilers are a top 10 team in all but two categories. The PP is 9th, the PK is 3rd, the team is 9th in goals for, 10th in goals against, and 6th in shots for per game. Added up it would stand to reason that the Oilers have been better over a 64 game body of work than their current standings position of tied for 14th with 3 other teams.
The Oilers have made the playoffs every single season since the 2003-04 season and were a top 5 team in each of those years in the Howe Conference. Down the stretch the team will lean on Roberto Luongo to continue his strong play. We also hope to continue getting good scoring from our top two lines as well as timely support from our depth forwards. The defence has held together despite being a lower rated group. It's going to be tough as someone is going to be left outside the playoff picture when day 156 is done. We hope that it's someone else, and that we can continue to push our way up the standings and maybe avoid a certain death matchup with the Sharks or Wild.
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"Some guys like old balls"
Patriots QB Tom Brady
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