McDavid, Oilers hope upcoming home schedule can help tip Pacific race

EDMONTON -- Connor McDavid can hear opportunity knocking for the Edmonton Oilers and wants to make the most of it.

The Oilers captain said he and his teammates are looking to carry the momentum built up prior to the Dec. 24-26 holiday break through the next phase of their schedule, which features a heavy dose of home games and gives Edmonton a chance to take control in the Pacific Division race.

“It’s a great opportunity, a great, great opportunity for our group here,” McDavid said prior to the break. “We’re home for most of January, we don't go East again, we’ve gotten a lot of tough trips out of the way. We’re healthy and are only getting healthier.”

Despite not being able to put together three consecutive wins at any point through their first 38 games this season, the Oilers (19-13-6) still entered the break with a share of first place in the Pacific.

Edmonton resumes its schedule and can win three straight for the first time this season when it faces the Calgary Flames (15-18-4) at Scotiabank Saddledome on Saturday (10 p.m. ET; CBC, TVAS, SNE, SNO, SNW).

The Oilers then play at the Winnipeg Jets on Monday.

From there, Edmonton, which is 10-3-3 at home this season, will play 13 of its next 18 games at Rogers Place -- including 11 of 15 in January -- heading into the Feb. 6-24 break for the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026.

“I like where our group can go,” McDavid said. “This is a big month for us coming up. We have to take advantage of this schedule at home here and make a push.”

It has been a winding road for the Oilers to the top of the Pacific with the Vegas Golden Knights (17-8-10) and Anaheim Ducks (21-14-2); they are a three-way tie for the division lead with 44 points each.

Edmonton was outside of a spot in the Stanley Cup Playoffs at the start of December, but went on an 8-2-1 run fueled by McDavid and center Leon Draisaitl.

McDavid extended his point streak to 11 games (31 points; 12 goals, 19 assists) with five assists and Draisaitl had a hat trick in a 5-1 win against Calgary on Tuesday to to provide plenty of holiday cheer heading into the break.

McDavid's recent run helped him take over the NHL scoring lead with 67 points (23 goals, 44 assists) in 38 games, six points ahead of Colorado Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon, who has 61 points (30 goals, 31 assists) in 36 games.

Draisaitl has also been putting up good numbers of late with 24 points (five goals, 19 assists) in his past 11 games. He has 55 points (20 goals, 35 assists) in 38 games this season and is tied with San Jose Sharks center Macklin Celebrini (55 points; 19 goals, 36 assists in 37 games) for third in the League in scoring.

“Guys are just playing better,” McDavid said. “When teams are struggling, everyone looks around for answers and points to one thing or the other, but ultimately, it just comes down to individual play from everybody. I thought collectively, our game has just gotten better and better as the season’s gone on, especially over the last couple of weeks and this last month. I think that’s the biggest thing.”

The Oilers are getting healthy as well.

Forward Zach Hyman returned Nov. 15 from a wrist injury sustained during the Western Conference Final against the Dallas Stars last season and is beginning to look more like the player that scored an NHL career-high 54 goals two seasons ago. He has 19 points (10 goals, nine assists) in 19 games this season.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins returned Nov. 29 after missing nine games with an undisclosed injury and picked up right where he left off, with 15 points (six goals, nine assists) in his past 13 games. The forward has 31 points (11 goals, 20 assists) in 29 games this season.

Forward Jack Roslovic returned Dec. 21 after missing 11 games with a lower-body injury, and has 18 points (10 goals, eight assists) in 25 games.

“That’s a big part of it, too,” McDavid said. “You ask what the biggest difference is and we’re healthier. We’re still missing a couple of guys, but we’re healthier and [Hyman] is in there and playing well, and [Nugent-Hopkins] is in there doing his things. We get [Roslovic] back and guys are feeling good and healthy.”

The Oilers feel they are once again playing like the Stanley Cup contender they have been the past two seasons, and appear to be headed in the right direction after hovering around the .500 mark going into December.

“We demand to be a playoff team,” Draisaitl said. “When you start the season the way we did, nobody is happy, nobody likes it. We knew we could be better and (play) a lot better in here. Everyone just stepped up and started playing better. Now we’re rolling a little better and obviously we’re looking to continue that.”

Getting through a grueling portion of their schedule, which featured three extended road trips through the Eastern Time Zone prior to the holiday break, has Edmonton optimistic heading into the new calendar year. The Oilers have no road games against Eastern Conference foes remaining this season and will play 26 of their final 44 games at home.

“I don’t know if there’d been a team that started their schedule as bad as ours was, just with going to the East Coast twice and the amount of road games," coach Kris Knoblauch said.

“Now the worst part of it is over, we have a lot more home games and our travel’s a lot closer, everything’s pretty much in our conference. But it’s nice to know we’ve gone through those difficult travel times and we are where we are right now.”