The Edmonton Oilers picked up a road victory over the Vegas Golden Knights Sunday night to secure two crucial points as they fight to hang onto a playoff spot.

Connor Ingram made 24 saves in net and Leon Draisaitl stayed hot, scoring for the fifth time in five games as Edmonton rolled to a 4-2 win.

“We’ve been talking about packing it in in the D-zone and just playing good defence,” goaltender Connor Ingram said via NHL.com. “We’re good enough that we’re going to get chances no matter what, so if we take care of the puck at that end, we’re going to be fine.”

“There were a lot of things that I liked,” added head coach Kris Knoblauch, pointing primarily to his team’s defensive play.

While the Oilers looked the part Sunday night, consistency in a few areas has held them back so far in 2025-26, making this year’s playoff chase far more precarious than the two seasons before when they made deep playoff runs to the Stanley Cup final.

Through 64 games, the Oilers are 31-25-8 with 70 points. It’s a markedly lower pace than 2023-24 when they had 83 points, as well as last season’s total of 78 points with 18 games to go.

Through 64 games

SeasonWLOTLPTS2023-2440213832024-2537234782025-263125870

The Oilers have alternated between wins and losses in each of their six games coming out of the Olympic break. They followed a three-game winning streak in late January with a four-game skid the week after, only to snap out of it with an 8-1 drubbing of the Los Angeles Kings on Feb. 26.

Edmonton’s offence remains elite. Connor McDavid leads the NHL in points with 108. Draisaitl is 16 behind at 92 and shouldn’t have any problems picking up his fifth straight 100-point season. All in all, the Oilers have the second-highest goal total in the league (227), trailing only the juggernaut Colorado Avalanche (235).

It’s been the defence and goaltending that has held the Oilers back.

While they’ve scored the second most, they’ve allowed the fifth-most goals (215) and have the third-worst team save percentage (.881). Their penalty kill has also been well below average for a playoff team, as they rank 23rd with a 77.4 per cent kill rate.

The Oilers did beef up their defence leading up to last week’s trade deadline, landing blueliner Connor Murphy from the Chicago Blackhawks for a 2028 second-round pick. They also brought in defensive forward Jason Dickinson and centre Colton Dach in a separate deal with Chicago two days later in exchange for a conditional first-rounder next summer and forward Andrew Mangiapane.

The Oilers are three points clear of the Seattle Kraken in the fourth spot and four ahead of the San Jose Sharks in fifth. However, the Kraken have two games in hand on the Oilers and the Sharks have three.

On the flip side, the Oilers are only three points behind the division-leading Anaheim Ducks, who sit atop the Pacific despite a minus-10 goal differential. The Oilers’ mark of plus-nine is tops in the division.

Edmonton passed the first test of their four-game road trip Sunday night, but it will get harder before it gets easier. On Tuesday, they’re in Denver to play the league-leading Avalanche and then face the Stars in Dallas on Thursday before wrapping things up against the lowly St. Louis Blues on a back-to-back Friday night.

“We’re not playing as well as we want to, not as many wins as we wanted after the break,” Knoblauch said Sunday via NHL.com.

“Going on this [four-game] road trip, a very difficult road trip, playing a lot of good teams, when you get that first one, everyone can relax a little more and hopefully feel a little more confident.”

As for the other Canadian team out West fighting for a playoff spot, the Winnipeg Jets have made a recent charge with wins in each of their past three and points in eight of their past 10 games to bring them to 62 for the season. They trail the Kraken (67 points) by five for the final Western wild-card spot, but will need to climb over the Nashville Predators (64), Kings (64) and Sharks (66) to get closer.

“Since the [Olympic] break the guys have been playing fantastic hockey, scratching and clawing while never looking fazed,” defenceman Josh Morrissey said after his overtime winner against the Vancouver Canucks Saturday night.