Are playoffs still makeable?

[Raab]

We might not pick in the top 10 this year.

Lord have mercy! What will we get with that pick? A box of rocks??

Curtis Lazar

 

[Musicman798]

Chicago can go a long way to helping us get into the playoffs. They play Nashville 4 times, St. Louis 3, Dallas Phoenix and Detroit once. And if they flop in their game against us that'll always help too.

 

[Mc5RingsAndABeer]

We also need to crush Calgary the 3 times we face them. We have no excuse for not doing that.

 

[Wheathead]

All the Oilers have to do right now is win. Keep winning and your chances improve. Don't scoreboard watch.

Just win.

 

[Musicman798]

Hopefully we can have good showings against the Ducks too.

 

[Replacement*]

The unsettling part for me is that 6/8 playoff spots are taken up. Kings are on full roll and really playing the best of any WC team right now, SJ sharks 4 game winning streak and really hard to imagine that team falling out in the race, which leaves only Detroit and STL.

Of those Blues are in a mini spin but a team that can really dial up a watertight game and one figures they will.

Detroit as others have mentioned, despite Datsyuk, Zetterberg brilliance is the likely fall out team if there is one. (which if anything speaks to the absolute strength of the WC.

Meanwhile if Oilers were in east they would be tied for 8th spot right now with two struggling NY clubs and just behind the sputtering Jets.

I still find it an absolute joke that Jets are leading a division while being -17 differential. I haven't seen this kind of NHL divisional disparity since say 1967. Jets would be in last place in WC imo.

 

[Musicman798]

Being from Winnipeg, I'm trying to enjoy the Jets being in a playoff position as much as possible. The Oilers win yesterday sure made up for the Jets terrible loss. That Southeast division really is embarrassing. The realignment should help with the divisional disparity, one would think. All divisions will have some powerhouse teams.

 

[Oil In My Veins]

The unsettling part for me is that 6/8 playoff spots are taken up. Kings are on full roll and really playing the best of any WC team right now, SJ sharks 4 game winning streak and really hard to imagine that team falling out in the race, which leaves only Detroit and STL.

Of those Blues are in a mini spin but a team that can really dial up a watertight game and one figures they will.

Detroit as others have mentioned, despite Datsyuk, Zetterberg brilliance is the likely fall out team if there is one. (which if anything speaks to the absolute strength of the WC.

Meanwhile if Oilers were in east they would be tied for 8th spot right now with two struggling NY clubs and just behind the sputtering Jets.

I still find it an absolute joke that Jets are leading a division while being -17 differential. I haven't seen this kind of NHL divisional disparity since say 1967. Jets would be in last place in WC imo.

The Jets coming into the west should change their situation quite a bit, and I'm hoping that the home and away with everyone in the league evens out the distribution of points a little bit.

But I can't disagree with your sentiment.

 

[smackdaddy]

Either way they're gonna get bounced quite quickly from the playoffs just like Vancouver did with their inflated point totals and precious President's Trophy. The SE just sucks. They'd be 8th in the East as well if their division had an ounce of talent.

 

[The Nuge]

The unsettling part for me is that 6/8 playoff spots are taken up. Kings are on full roll and really playing the best of any WC team right now, SJ sharks 4 game winning streak and really hard to imagine that team falling out in the race, which leaves only Detroit and STL.

Of those Blues are in a mini spin but a team that can really dial up a watertight game and one figures they will.

Detroit as others have mentioned, despite Datsyuk, Zetterberg brilliance is the likely fall out team if there is one. (which if anything speaks to the absolute strength of the WC.

Meanwhile if Oilers were in east they would be tied for 8th spot right now with two struggling NY clubs and just behind the sputtering Jets.

I still find it an absolute joke that Jets are leading a division while being -17 differential. I haven't seen this kind of NHL divisional disparity since say 1967. Jets would be in last place in WC imo.

Our record in the last 10 games is as good or better than anyone in the conference outside of Minny. We've actually made up 3 points on LA in the last 10

 

[Replacement*]

Our record in the last 10 games is as good or better than anyone in the conference outside of Minny. We've actually made up 3 points on LA in the last 10

Don't get me wrong. I'm enthused with what the team is doing. But Kings are playing some fantastic hockey imo. Sharks you know will do enough just to ensure entry. I don't see us catching LA. If Kings even served out the season at a lowly .500 pace we would need 21/28possible pts to pass them. (Kings have tiebreaker on W's)

If kings get a more likely 19 or so pts the rest of the way to close out at 60pts we essentially have to win out.

Detroit, STL I think is it.

 

[Blue And Orange]

Now to answer the OP's question. After last night's game:

 

[The Nuge]

Don't get me wrong. I'm enthused with what the team is doing. But Kings are playing some fantastic hockey imo. Sharks you know will do enough just to ensure entry. I don't see us catching LA.

Detroit, STL I think is it.

I agree that's realistically the case, but we're playing pretty damn impressive hockey as well right now. I'm not ready to write off catching LA just yet

 

[Oil In My Veins]

I agree that's realistically the case, but we're playing pretty damn impressive hockey as well right now. I'm not ready to write off catching LA just yet

Exactly, if the Oilers keep up this level of play I believe they'll be playing for playoff position by the end of the season. Not just to get in.

 

[Musicman798]

It really is just about taking care of our own games. However, with the right kind of help, we could really jump up the standings. If Chicago, Anaheim, Minnesota and Vancouver win all the right games it could knock Nashville, Dallas, Columbus, St. Louis, LA and Detroit way down.

Oh, what a wonderful world it would be.

 

[Soliloquy of a Dogge]

Detroit losing today puts us 4 points behind with a game in hand. Need LA to beat Dallas and Anaheim to beat Columbus tonight.

If we take care of our home and home with Calgary this team will be in prime position to catch Detroit and St. Louis... possibly San Jose as well.

Those two third period leads blown against Detroit and San Jose hurt really bad.

We win those in regulation and San Jose is sitting at 38 points, Detroit 37... while the Oilers would be at 37.

Scary.

 

[Replacement*]

I agree that's realistically the case, but we're playing pretty damn impressive hockey as well right now. I'm not ready to write off catching LA just yet

LA, just like in their SC year, had a slow start and were 2nd last place over the first 10GP. Since then they've steadily played better hockey. Results don't always show that but Kings are rounding out again as one of the better clubs if not the best club in the league presently. Again it just speaks to how strong the WC is that we are having this discussion.

Fun times though.

 

[KeithIsActuallyBad]

I have a bad feeling about these Calgary games coming up. But if we get at least 4 points in the next 3 games that's pretty good.

 

[Everest]

Need help. Lots of help.

 

[Musicman798]

Colorado and Calgary have a few games they could help us with as well.

 

[oilers_guy_eddie]

We need help, but if the Oilers take care of their own business, Dallas and St Louis are catchable.

I'm just hoping to be in a real playoff race. It seems like forever since I've felt excited to check the standings after the games are over. (well, that's not 100% true... the last few seasons I watched the standings avidly to see if the Flames were eliminated. )

Hoping for a big beatdown of the Flames tomorrow, where the players say to management "hey, let's be a buyer instead of a seller this year."

 

[Oil In My Veins]

I have a bad feeling about these Calgary games coming up. But if we get at least 4 points in the next 3 games that's pretty good.

Iginla used to have a big part in them always stepping up their game against us.

If we play the way we did last night, it' not even going to be close in either game.

 

[Oil In My Veins]

We need help, but if the Oilers take care of their own business, Dallas and St Louis are catchable.

I'm just hoping to be in a real playoff race. It seems like forever since I've felt excited to check the standings after the games are over. (well, that's not 100% true... the last few seasons I watched the standings avidly to see if the Flames were eliminated. )

Hoping for a big beatdown of the Flames tomorrow, where the players say to management "hey, let's be a buyer instead of a seller this year."

News flash...you're in one now!!!

Oil are 1 point out of 8th and you should be excited to check the standings every night

 

[Musicman798]

If you look at the way Krueger said they've been separating the season into 3 game segments, from now until the end of the season we have 5 left, including the one we're in right now.

Vancouver, Calgary, Calgary

Vancouver, LA, Anaheim

Phoenix, Calgary, Minnesota,

Colorado, Anaheim, Anaheim

Chicago, Minnesota, Vancouver

It would be nice if we had a game against Anaheim earlier in the year so that we could have an idea of how we stack up against them. The Calgary, Vancouver, Colorado, LA, Phoenix and Chicago games are all winnable based on this year's play against those teams. That leaves 5 games, Anaheim and Minnesota that we need to hope to pick up a couple wins, allowing for some losses in the games we know are winnable.

 

[Mcnofool6110]

Chicago's delivered, waiting on California (the parts that aren't SJ) to deliver tonight.

Two wins against Calgary, and a magnificent outing by Duchene and Landeskog against Jimmy Howard would tie us up with the Wings.

If we make it instead of the Wings... .... ..... .. ... ... .