'A lot of room to grow': Oilers not exactly acing mid-term report card

The new calendar year ushers in the second half of the Edmonton Oilers’ 82-game schedule, beginning with the Philadelphia Flyers visiting Rogers Place on Saturday (1:30 p.m., Sportsnet).

So, what better time to come out with a mid-term report card on the team’s progress throughout the season?

And who better to provide the insight into how things are going than the one person responsible for how it’s gone? OK, maybe head coach Kris Knoblauch is biased on how the results have been, so far, but that didn’t stop us from asking anyway.

“We got off to a very slow start,” Knoblauch said of the first two months, which saw his team meander right around the .500 mark before finally gaining some separation in December and moving to the top of the Pacific Division. “I think that was anticipated.”

After all, his team was just coming off not one, but two consecutive trips all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals against the Florida Panthers, only to return home emptyhanded for back-to-back off-seasons that might have been short, but must have felt extra long.

“I think we played better hockey, but I thought our record would have been something like that,” said Knoblauch, whose squad couldn’t get more than three games above .500 before falling back down again. “And through December, we’re gaining some traction, playing a lot better and obviously that showed with the wins.”

The Oilers went 9-5-1 over December, and were even 8-2-1 at one point in between. But are 1-2 coming out of it to open their January schedule against Philadelphia.

But he attributes the stumble to the post-Christmas break.

“We are in a pretty good spot right now where we are in the standings,” Knoblauch said. “But a lot of room to grow.

“I think our offensive game is about where it should be. We’re scoring goals, we’re generating enough chances, but I think there’s a lot of improvement to make defensively — whether that’s off the rush or penalty kill or defensive-zone coverage. Whatever we need to do to just reduce our goals-against.”

The Oilers sit 29th out of 32 teams in that department, having allowed 138 goals over the first half of the schedule.

The Flyers are a different story.

“I think they’re a very responsible team, defensively, and I think their offence is spread out nicely where it’s not just one or two guys that you have to look out for,” Knoblauch said of Philadelphia, who comes into Edmonton tied for third in the Metropolitan Division with a 20-12-7 record. “There are a lot of guys who can put in the puck.

“But I would say their biggest identity is how much pride they take in playing their 5-on-5 game defensively.”

Meaning the Oilers will have to have more guys putting pucks in Saturday, because they’re not likely going to beat a Flyers defence that sits seventh overall with 114 goals-against over their first 39 games.

One thing the Oilers have been so far this season is more consistent and less streaky — even if that means not seeing one of their patented winning runs under Knoblauch, which reached 16 in a row, at one point, under his watch.

They have yet to win three straight in 2025-26.

“The best teams put together long winning streaks, and good teams also don’t lose a bunch in a row,” Knoblauch said. “We’ve done a great job on picking ourselves up, we haven’t had long losing streaks. I think the majority of the NHL has. We haven’t.

“But another thing we ought to do is gain some momentum, start winning some more games and just be able to move up in the standings.”

Speaking of moving up, a December to remember saw captain Connor McDavid reach first place in the NHL’s points race, where he is currently tied with Colorado Avalanche forward and Team Canada teammate Nathan MacKinnon at 70 points apiece.

McDavid comes into Saturday’s game riding a 14-game personal point streak that has seen him score 13 goals and 21 assists over December for 34 points, which is the most since Mario Lemieux in 1995.

E-mail: gmoddejonge@postmedia.com

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