Overall, he\u2019s registered only one even-strength point over the last four games, and according to Natural Stat Trick, he\u2019s been outshot 38-28 at five-on-five, outchanced 16-9 on high-danger opportunities, and outscored 7-2 during that span.<\/p>\n
Am I concerned? Absolutely not. Much like he went through a goalless stretch of eight games in December and then exploded with a hat trick against the Calgary Flames on December 23rd<\/a>, he\u2019s proven he can turn it around. And for him, there\u2019s no better team to help break his little slump than the Nashville Predators, who are up next, a team Draisaitl has dominated over his career, scoring 27 goals in 29 games against them.McDavid Hits More Milestones With 15-game point streak<\/p>\n There\u2019s a theory that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to become a master at a skill, and with the way Oilers\u2019 captain Connor McDavid has been toying with the opposition lately, it seems like he\u2019s practiced hockey for around a billion hours in his 28 years on this planet.<\/p>\n McDavid recorded two points (one goal, one assist) last game against the Flyers putting him at 72 points on the season, which extended his point streak to 15 games, and in the process, he recorded his sixth 15-game point streak in his career<\/a>, moving past Peter Stastny for third all time, trailing Mario Lemieux (seven) and Wayne Gretzky (19).<\/p>\n With a goal tonight, Connor McDavid is in his 10th career season with 25+ goals, tying Jari Kurri for the most in the Oilers’ NHL history \ud83d\udc4f <\/p>\n Additionally, the Oilers\u2019 superstar scored his 25th goal of the season against the Flyers, the tenth time he has reached that mark in a season, putting him in a tie for first place for most 25+ goal seasons in Oilers franchise history, tying Jari Kurri. Moreover, McDavid has scored 386 regular-season goals, and scoring six more will put him in a tie with Mark Messier<\/a> for fifth place in Oilers franchise history.Hopefully Evan Bouchard Uses the Team Canada Snub as MotivationOilers defenceman Evan Bouchard was not selected to the Team Canada Olympic roster<\/a>, much to the disappointment of some Oilers fans. Would I have liked to see Bouchard make the team? 100 percent. Watching him regularly produce and score clutch goals over the last couple of postseasons, I know what the blue liner brings to the table, and more Oilers representation in a best-on-best tournament is always a plus.<\/p>\n EVAN BOUCHARD ON THE POWER PLAY!<\/p>\n \ud83d\udcf9: Sportsnet <\/p>\n On one instance, he absolutely hammered a one-timer for his eighth goal of the season, but earlier in the first period, he tried to thread a 60-foot Hail Mary pass up the middle, while a safer, shorter option to his left was available.<\/p>\n An eventful first period for the Oilers, but for all the wrong reasons, 3-0 Flyers. <\/p>\n \ud83d\udcf9: Sportsnet <\/p>\n The pass was intercepted by the Flyers, the play went the other way, and the puck ended up in the back of the Oilers\u2019 net. And in the Olympics, that type of costly turnover could make all the difference in a close, elimination game.<\/p>\n Still, we already have enough of a sample to know that Bouchard raises the bar when the stakes are at their highest, and he\u2019s been one of the most productive blueliners in the NHL this season, with his 38 points ranking fourth among all defencemen. And who knows, perhaps that Team Canada snub will motivate him to limit his occasional Bouchard blue line blunders. One can hope.<\/p>\n Connor Clattenburg Continues His Bruising Style in the AHL After InjuryConnor Clattenburg made his NHL debut in late November and made his impact felt in the five games he suited up for the Oilers, scoring his first NHL goa<\/a>l and hitting everything in sight. From November 22nd to December 4th, during those five games, his 28.31 hits per 60 minutes ranked fourth in the entire NHL.The 20-year-old suffered an eye injury on December 4th, went on LTIR, and was recently loaned to the Bakersfield Condors on December 29th<\/a>. In the three AHL games he\u2019s played since returning, he\u2019s picked up where he left off with his menacing ways, scoring a goal and racking up 24 penalty minutes, including getting into fights in back-to-back games.<\/p>\n We don\u2019t know if Clattenburg will get another crack at the NHL this season, but with the Oilers\u2019 bottom-six struggles and the 20-year-old\u2019s ability to bring his relentless, wrecking-ball style in limited minutes, it feels like the legend of Connor Clattenburg still has more chapters to write with the big club this season.<\/p>\n Thoughts on \u2018the Kid Line\u2019s\u2019 First Game Together, Questionable Deployment in Third Period vs. Flyers<\/p>\n The trio was outshot 7\u20131, though they didn\u2019t make any glaring mistakes. However, chalk it up to jitters from the hype, but they struggled to settle the puck or keep possession. But credit to the Flyers, once they got possession against that trio, they hemmed them in their own zone for stretches, never allowing them to build any momentum, which was likely the game plan.<\/p>\n Yet, what stood out to me was the way they were deployed. The trio started just once in the offensive zone, with their third-period usage drawing the most attention. Head coach Kris Knoblauch sent the \u2018Kid Line\u2019 over the boards to take a defensive-zone draw in the final frame. Matt Savoie, playing his first NHL game at centre and having won just 25% of his faceoffs at that point, lost the draw. The puck went to the point, and Nick Seeler sailed it into the Oilers\u2019 net.<\/p>\n I\u2019m all for giving the rookie line an opportunity to run wild, but there also has to be an element of putting them in a position to succeed. Being down by a goal and sending them out for a defensive-zone draw \u2014 especially after struggling to find momentum all night \u2014 wasn\u2019t it. Knoblauch addressed that decision postgame, saying<\/a>:<\/p>\n \u201cYou don\u2019t want to be putting your top lines in defensive-zone faceoffs all the time, and in the third period, we have a defensive-zone faceoff, we need a goal, it\u2019s not good to send one of your top lines out there. So, [Henrique] is absolutely available for that, but we\u2019re also chasing a game, and those three, that we feel can chip in offensively, unfortunately, they lost that draw, and it ends up costing us.\u201d<\/p>\n As mentioned, Savoie was only 25 percent on the draw before taking that pivotal faceoff, and if Knoblauch didn\u2019t want to play the top two lines in that scenario, perhaps you just switch out Savoie for Adam Henrique<\/a>, who is 55.3 percent on the dot this season. Once the Oilers have possession and play goes the other way, switch the centremen.<\/p>\n the kid line<\/p>\n The @EdmontonOilers practice:<\/p>\n RNH-McDavid-Hyman Ekholm-Bouchard Ingram Not on ice: Janmark<\/p>\n That said, my interest in this \u2018Kid Line\u2019 was piqued, and with their first game together and the jitters likely out of the way, I\u2019d like to see Knoblauch\u2019s creation get a longer leash and play together for the next couple of games.<\/p>\n However, just like the pattern we\u2019ve seen all season, the blender is in full effect. According to the line combinations Bob Stauffer<\/a> posted recently from the Oilers\u2019 practice, it appears the \u2018Kid Line\u2019 has been broken up<\/a>, without a chance to try the experiment again, at least for now. And if that lineup from practice plays out next game, and Hutson is in fact sitting out against the Predators, what was the point of calling him up and disrupting his momentum?PRESENTED BY SOUTHVIEW ACURA At Southview Acura, luxury isn\u2019t just what you drive, it\u2019s how you\u2019re treated. Family owned and operated, we\u2019re proud to offer an exceptional selection of new and certified pre-owned Acuras, backed by a service experience built on trust and precision. Whether it\u2019s your first visit or your next, our team is committed to excellence every step of the way. Visit Southview Acura today, where luxury meets reality.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oilers Thoughts: Draisaitl needs to step up, McDavid\u2019s milestones, Bouchard\u2019s Team Canada snub, a Clattenburg update, and the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":121094,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152],"class_list":{"0":"post-121093","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bakersfield","8":"tag-bakersfield","9":"tag-bakersfield-headlines","10":"tag-bakersfield-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121093"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121093\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/121094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nPodkolzin-Draisaitl-Kapanen
\nHoward-Henrique-Roslovic
\nMangiapane-Lazar-Savoie
\nFrederic-Hutson<\/p>\n
\nNurse-Regula
\nStastney-Emberson
\nStillman<\/p>\n
\nPickard <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1767639434_869_image.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\n