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7-5 Is Alive

April 4, 2013, 1:40 PM ET [513 Comments]
Richard Cloutier
Edmonton Oilers Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Follow me on Twitter: @rdcloutier

12 games to go. The Oilers...on a five game winning streak. Did you see the game yesterday against the Calgary Flames? After the Oilers slept-walked through the first five minutes, they absolutely blew the Flames out. The top line of Taylor Hall, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Jordan Eberle combined for 11pts. Ridiculous.

The Oilers, who now are in 8th in the Western Conference, should be able to secure a playoff spot if they go 7-5 or 6-4-2 over the last 12 games of the season. Outstanding. I honestly didn't think they had it in them to be a playoff team this season.

Hey, finishing 8th is not exactly blowing the doors off the entire league, but if you're the average Oilers fan who hasn't watched a playoff series since 2006, finishing 8th is a huge deal. Oilers fans are craving success, and I believe even the notion of being a playoff team is going to work the entire city into a frenzy. Perhaps more important than making the playoffs is how the Oilers are doing it: By playing indestructible hockey over the last few weeks. The Oilers could walk into the playoffs as one of the NHL's hottest teams, and that's scary to any team they could face. For example, the Oilers have shown they can beat Chicago...beat them badly, actually. I'm guessing the Hawks want no part of a first round series against the Oilers. It might happen, and the Oilers stand a decent chance of winning it.

Now that the trade deadline is behind us, we can look forward and be optimistic. Nine of the Oilers final 12 games are against teams ahead of them in the standings...that's the bad news. The good news is, the Oilers can and have beaten all of these teams before. The only bit of the schedule that scares me are the two games against the Minnesota Wild, as the Oilers always seem to lose to them. But that's just two games. The Oilers will face the Canucks and Wild twice, the Ducks three times, and the Hawks, Flames, Kings, Coyotes and Avalanche once. Seven of the remaining 12 games will be at Rexall Place in Edmonton.

Perhaps the most encouraging thing about how the Oilers are playing is that it's not just Hall, Eberle and Nugent-Hopkins doing all the work. During last night's Flames game, Ryan Whitney was tremendous. Nail Yakupov's shot is a thing of beauty. Shawn Horcoff is providing leadership and stability. Ladislav Smid and Mike Brown are being warriors. It's a 20-man effort out there, and that's exactly what good hockey teams give you. Taylor Hall finds himself ranked seventh in league scoring, and he's become the elite player everyone thought he'd be when we drafted him.

It's all smiles right now, Oilers fans. Get out your jerseys and foam fingers. We're in for a wild time this April.
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