Oilers clinch playoff berth after rough start to season 

EDMONTON -- Kris Knoblauch admitted to being a little surprised how soon the Edmonton Oilers were able to clinch a berth into the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs considering where they were when he became their coach.

Edmonton fell into a tie for last in the overall standings prior to firing coach Jay Woodcroft and assistant Dave Manson and hiring of Knoblauch and Hall of Fame defenseman Paul Coffey as an assistant on Nov. 12.

With a 6-2 win against the Colorado Avalanche at Rogers Place on Friday, the Oilers clinched a spot in the playoffs with seven games remaining on their schedule.

“We were talking about this after the game tonight, about clinching,” Knoblauch said. “We talked about the playoffs when we were in Washington (5-0 win at the Capitals on Nov. 24) and what we needed to get there. We ultimately said if we go 5-3 in eight-game segments, we’d be in a pretty good position to get into the playoffs.”

Edmonton had a record of 3-9-1 when Knoblauch was hired and has since gone 43-15-4. The Oilers are the 20th team in NHL history and 12th in the past 30 years to qualify for the playoffs after falling 10 points out of the final spot. Edmonton was 10 points back of the St. Louis Blues and Seattle Kraken for a wild-card spot from the Western Conference on Nov. 23.

“To get there this soon, I think it may be a little surprising, but when you’re pulling off 16-game winning streaks, another eight-game winning streak, they made up a lot of ground in a short period of time.” Knoblauch said. “They worked for it, it wasn’t easy and they should be very proud of what they accomplished.”

The Oilers won 16 straight from Dec. 22 to Jan. 27, coming within one win of tying the 1992-93 Pittsburgh Penguins for the longest winning streak in NHL history. Prior to that streak, Edmonton won eight consecutive games from Nov. 24 to Dec. 12. The two streaks were separated by a three-game losing streak.

“If you look at late November, things weren’t looking great, but I think we had the belief that we knew we could turn it around and get on a roll here,” Oilers forward Evander Kane said. “We did that and clinched a playoff spot and that’s a nice feeling. Now we have to try and win some more games to solidify home ice and who knows, maybe climb in the standings.”

Edmonton is second in the Pacific Division, five points ahead of the Vegas Golden Knights and five back of the Vancouver Canucks. It is the fifth consecutive season Edmonton will play in the postseason.

“We really buckled down after a really poor start and there’s a lot of resilience and character in this group,” Oilers forward Leon Draisaitl said. “It’s only one step of course, we know that, but it’s a step that we have to do to give yourself a chance (to win Stanley Cup).”

Edmonton was considered a contender to win the Stanley Cup at the start of the season with the same core that was eliminated by the eventual champion the previous two seasons. Edmonton lost in the second round to the Vegas Golden Knights last season and in the Western Conference Final to Colorado in 2022.

“That was the expectation, a minimum requirement was to make the postseason going into training camp,” Kane said. “The fact that we did it, is accomplishing the first step, the first goal that we set out to do. But there is still lots to play for in the regular season here; we want to maintain home ice. We have some teams that are right around us that we are playing coming up, Vancouver, Vegas, Colorado, there’s lots left to play for.”

Playing six playoff rounds in the past three seasons, the Oilers feel they are better equipped to go on a lengthy run this season. If the playoffs were to start Saturday, Edmonton would face Vegas in the first round. There is also a possibly the Oilers could meet the Los Angeles Kings in the first round for the third consecutive season.

“I think it’s going to come down to us playing well with whoever we get in the first round,” Oilers defenseman Mattias Ekholm said. “I do think experience is on our side. We did beat L.A. last year and we did get the experience of winning a round. We want more, but if you look at how we played tonight against a real good opponent, I think we’ll be tough to beat.”

The Oilers close out the season with a game at the Calgary Flames on Saturday (10 p.m. ET: CBC, SNE, SNO, SNW, TVAS2), then return home to host the Golden Knights, Arizona Coyotes, Canucks and San Jose Sharks before concluding the season at Arizona and Colorado.

“I think we’re just kind of finding our groove here, knowing that we need to step it up here in the last few games and going into the playoffs,” Ekholm said. “It’s not just about pushing a button when it starts, but it’s about doing it now.”