Edmonton Oilers in Desperate Need of a Winning Streak

The good news for the Oilers is that they're only five points out of a playoff spot. 

The bad news is that the eighth place St. Louis Blues have four games in hand on the struggling Northwest club, and with the season officially halfway over, there really is no better time than now to put together a few consecutive wins.

Edmonton faces the Coyotes, Flames and Kings next, before hitting a run of Eastern Conference clubs to lead into the All-Star break.  These are two teams that sit ahead of them in the standings, and the bottom-feeding Kings.  Both the Coyotes and divisional rival Flames have games in hand, so there's no question that the next three games are must-wins.  

Under it all, however, is a necessity to end these games in regulation.  The Oilers have been a team so far this year that's just good enough to lose.  Before they snapped their losing streak by defeating the Blueshirts and Isles, the Oilers had been finding ways to take the lead and either gas it in regulation, or be forced to the overtime and shoot-out sessions.

In case Edmonton isn't aware, you can't win a playoffs series in a shoot-out, so their fantastic 11-4 record in the shootout won't mean much when the real dance begins.

Without the shootout the Oilers would be at least a further 4 points back in the standings, and the difference between five and nine points isn't insignificant.

But the Oilers have to stay healthy, too.  They're missing a tremendous Jason Smith-like presence in Matt Greene, whose return isn't scheduled until likely mid-February.  Raffi Torres, a crasher-and-banger emotional grit player, is gone for the season—and unofficially untradeable with the surgery required on his knee.  Sheldon Souray's battling a sore shoulder.  This team's defensive depth isn't bad, but they have nothing much on forward.  If Ales Hemsky goes out, they have Robert Nillson to fill his shoes.

But, if the Oilers can stay healthy, a win streak is certainly not only possible, but necessary.  They just have to find a way to be good enough to win. And that means sticking to a system, backchecking hard and staying healthy.