The game last night was important… the battle of Alberta… maybe the most important game of the season for the Oilers to this point of the season. Edmonton came into the game 7 points behind Calgary for the 8th and final playoff spot, if they win they move to within 5, if they lose they fall 9 points back.  Well they lost, and as a matter of fact it wasn’t close. So it may be time to face reality with the Oilers this season, lets do some math to see if it is realistic for them to make a comeback.

The following chart will show how many points the teams that the Oilers are chasing will finish with if they play just .500 hockey until the end of the season.  I know all of these teams are good enough to play better than that but lets face it the Oilers will need one of them to underachieve to make this possible.

Colorado Avalanche 91
Calgary Flames 90
Anaheim Ducks 90
Nashville Predators 88

The Oilers currently sit at 55 points so will need a minimum of  35 more points to stand a chance.  With 25 games remaining they will need to have a record of 17-7-1 to finish the season with 90 points.  For a team that is under .500 for the season and will play the remainder of the season without Shawn Horcoff and Sheldon Souray it pretty unlikely that they’ll be able to put this kind of record together

This team does however still have a lot to play for. Its time to send a message the Oilers will be a team to reckon with for years to come and while they may not be playoff bound they’re still hard to play against.  I fully expect Kevin Lowe to make some moves at the deadline or in the off season to tweak the lineup for next season’s Stanley Cup Champions.

The Voice Predictions