BLOG: Oilers push to earn playoff right

EDMONTON, AB - To be a playoff team, you have to earn that right.
That statement takes on an extra level of importance in a jam-packed Pacific Division picture, with spots one through five separated by a mere three points.
"When everything is bunched up as tight as it is and there are so many teams involved, if you get into the playoffs, you've earned your way in," Head Coach Dave Tippett said Monday. "You're not going to get in just by squeaking through. You're going to have to earn your way in because there are so many teams that are going to be in play."
A crowded division means plenty of meaningful games on the horizon for the Oilers, exemplified in Saturday's 4-3 loss to the Calgary Flames in a Battle of Alberta that will go down as one of the most charged-up provincial duels in recent memory.
The feeling of knowing every next game against divisional opponents is your biggest? The more, the better if you're in the Oilers locker room.
"It's great. We talked about it as a group this morning," Tippett said of meaningful games. "It's where you want to be because to be a playoff team you've got to earn the right to be a playoff team."