The Edmonton Oilers are getting help from everywhere – and the results are showing

The hottest team in the NHL is having a cast of characters produce in their climb up the Western Conference standings.

While Connor McDavid, Zach Hyman and Leon Draisaitl are doing their thing, players like Warren Foegele, Ryan McLeod and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins are stepping up during the team’s 15-game win streak.

Even in goal they are getting help. While Stuart Skinner is having a great run, veteran journeyman Calvin Pickard has came up big, including posting a shutout on Thursday night against the Chicago Blackhawks.

Edmonton has been criticized for having a top-heavy lineup. For the past number of years, it seemed that if McDavid or Draisaitl did not score, no one was going to.

It looks like it is new day for the Oilers. If production continues at this rate, who knows how long the winning streak will last?

They will look to go for No. 16 on Saturday against the Nashville Predators. With a 28-15-1 record, Edmonton is third in the Pacific Division, 12 points back of the league-leading Vancouver Canucks.

On Friday’s edition of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Luke Gazdic joined the show to talk about what has been clicking for the Oilers.

Luke Gazdic: This is a different Oilers team. If you include the loss before the streak that happened against the [New York] Islanders, it’s 16 in a row where they allowed three or less [goals]. They’re playing some pretty lockdown D. I look at a guy like [Vincent] Desharnais. When he first came to the Oilers, he was guy that needed serious work..but he’s become an integral part of the blueline.

There just harder to play against than they have been in the past. They’re getting some middle depth scoring. It’s just a different attack, a different way of playing that we haven’t seen from them in the past.

You can watch the entire segment, and the full episode here…