The Edmonton Oilers won their 15th consecutive game, defeating the Chicago Blackhawks 3-0 at Rogers Place on Thursday (Jan. 25).
Oilers captain Connor McDavid lit the lamp twice and Zach Hyman also scored for Edmonton, while Leon Draisaitl assisted on all three Oilers goals. Netminder Calvin Pickard made 27 saves to record his first shutout as an Oiler.
Edmonton now has a record of 28-15-1 for a total of 57 points through 44 games. Since American Thanksgiving, the Oilers have gone 23-3-0 to climb from 30th to 10th place in the overall NHL standings.
This spectacular run by the Oilers is quickly becoming one of the greatest stretches of hockey ever seen in NHL history. With each game, they are reaching new milestones and establishing benchmarks that may never be matched, and Thursday was no different. Here are the most amazing stats that came out of the Oilers’ victory over the Blackhawks.
Oilers Equal 1984-85 Undefeated Streak
By winning for a 15th straight time, Edmonton has tied the 1984-85 Oilers for the franchise record of most consecutive games in a single season without a loss (regulation, overtime or shootout).
With a lineup featuring seven future Hall-of-Famers including Kevin Lowe, the defending champion Oilers started the 1984-85 season with 12 wins, zero losses and three ties before dropping their 16th game, 7-5 to the Philadelphia Flyers at The Spectrum on Nov. 11, 1984.
Related: Looking Back at Oilers Legend Kevin Lowe’s Defining Moments
The Oilers led 4-3 with less than seven minutes remaining before the Flyers erupted for three goals in a span of 2:53. The Oilers got their revenge months later when they defeated the Flyers four games to one in the 1985 Stanley Cup Final.
Today’s Oilers have an opportunity to surpass that team for the longest undefeated streak in franchise history, but their only real goal is replicating what they achieved as Stanley Cup champions.
Oilers’ 26-Game Run is Among Best Ever
With its 23-3-0 record over the last nine weeks, the Oilers are tied for the most wins over a 26-game span in a single NHL season. The only other teams to win 23 times in a stretch of 26 games within one season are the 1929-30 Boston Bruins, 1944-45 Montreal Canadiens, 2008-09 Bruins, and Tampa Bay Lightning of the 2019-20 pandemic-shortened season. That Lightning team eventually won the 2020 Stanley Cup, defeating the Dallas Stars for the championship in the “bubble” at Rogers Place.
Should Edmonton win its next game, it would join the Bruins of 1929-30 and 2008-09 as the only teams with 24 wins in a span of 27 games in a single season.
Oilers’ Unprecedented Streak of Goals Against
Thursday’s game was the 13th straight that Edmonton has conceded less than three goals, which is the longest such streak in franchise history.
Twenty-two other squads in NHL history have gone at least 13 games without giving up more than two goals. Most played in the 1920s and 1930s, although there are a handful from this millennium, including this season’s Winnipeg Jets, who went 14 games where the opposition scored two or fewer goals from Dec. 20 to Jan. 20. Winnipeg’s streak came to an end on Monday (Jan. 21), when the Jets lost 4-1 to the Bruins in Boston.
Meanwhile, Edmonton has gone an NHL all-time best 13 consecutive games of winning while allowing less than three goals. That benchmark had previously been shared by the 2009-10 Ottawa Senators and 2012-13 Penguins, both of which had a stretch of 11 games that they won while limiting the opponent to two or fewer goals.
Oilers Get Closer to All-Time Record
Edmonton’s winning streak began with a 6-3 road victory over the New Jersey Devils on Dec. 21, and has now reached 15 games, which ties the 2023-24 Oilers with the 1981-82 New York Islanders and 2012-13 Penguins for the third most consecutive wins in a single season in NHL history.
The Oilers are now two wins away from tying the 1992-93 Penguins for the all-time record of 17 straight victories. They can match the 2016-17 Columbus Blue Jackets by winning their 16th game in a row, when they host the Nashville Predators on Saturday (Jan. 27) at Rogers Place.
