The Edmonton Oilers fall one game short of history.
After heading into the All-Star break on a 16-game winning streak, the Oilers entered Tuesday night looking to become the second team in NHL history to win 17 games in a row with a victory over the Vegas Golden Knights. But it appears that the break disrupted the momentum of their hot stretch, as they fell to the Golden Knights 3-1.
Things started off well for the Oilers, as captain Connor McDavid opened the scoring just four minutes into the game on the penalty kill. But that would be the only goal they would score, as Nicolas Roy responded in the final minutes of the first period to tie it, and Chandler Stephenson got the eventual game-winner early in the third. William Karlsson finished it off with an empty net goal in the final minutes of the game, and the Golden Knights won 3-1 to end the Oilers’ lengthy winning streak.
With the loss, the Oilers historic run ends at just 16 games, tying them with the 2016-17 Columbus Blue Jackets for the second-longest winning streak in NHL history. That leaves the 1992-93 Pittsburgh Penguins alone in first place with 17 wins in a row.
The loss also ends a different streak for the Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch. The recently-hired bench boss had previously been undefeated against Western Conference teams since he was hired on November 12th, so the loss marks the first time he’s lost to a Western Conference opponent with the Oilers. He had previously gone 14-0-0 against western teams, with the team’s only losses during his tenure coming to the Carolina Hurricanes and the New York Islanders, as well as the Florida Panthers and the Tampa Bay Lightning on two occasions each.
The Oilers jumped from 13th in the Western Conference and seven points out of a playoff spot when this streak began to end up in sixth in the Western Conference and five points ahead of the team outside the playoffs as it concludes.
The Oilers will look to potentially start a new streak when they visit the Anaheim Ducks on Friday at 10 p.m. EST. They currently sit in third place in the Pacific Division with a 29-16-1 record.
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