After an abysmal start that cost head coach Jay Woodcroft his job, the Edmonton Oilers look as if they’ve started to right the ship.
The Oilers have won two games in a row and put together back-to-back strong defensive efforts for the first time this season.
Edmonton’s statistical profile always suggested that it was better than its record, but the Oilers continued to hand away points thanks to porous goaltending, defensive lapses and pedestrian performances from Connor McDavid, who is clearly battling an injury.
If those problems are fixed, the Oilers should start surging.
But just because Edmonton has made a coaching change to Kris Knoblauch and won two games on the spin — both of which came against struggling opponents — doesn’t mean all of its problems are in the rearview mirror.
While the Oilers looked sturdy defensively against the Kraken and Islanders, those teams are not all that hard to shut down at the moment.
Seattle, which is an underdog in Edmonton on Wednesday night, ranks 29th in goals per game and the Isles are 30th.
Bettors are going to be eager to get on the Oilers’ bandwagon since almost everyone expects them to turn this thing around, but I’d tread carefully laying this kind of price with Edmonton based on a couple of decent showings.
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The goaltending and defensive play is still a concern and makes the Oil a very vulnerable favorite for the time being.
This price, which is likely to continue moving toward Edmonton, suggests the Oilers are well on their way back to being a juggernaut.
That seems to be an overreaction to me.
The play: Kraken +150.