Oilers Start Toughest Stretch Of Season Against Lightning

We've been over it before: the Oilers are back.

They've put their mediocre start behind them and started to rattle off some wins. Now, with six wins in their past eight games, they'll get to prove their mettle against as fearsome a quartet as the NHL can offer.

Their next four games come against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Minnesota Wild, Vegas Golden Knights, and Florida Panthers. That's four of the last five Stanley Cup winners, plus the league-leading Wild. If they can beat these four, they can beat anyone.

The gauntlet starts tonight against Tampa Bay. More than almost any other team in the league, everyone knows the deal with the Lightning. Nikita Kucherov, Brayden Point, Victor Hedman, Andrei Vasilevskiy, and head coach Jon Cooper are all still here, and replacing Steven Stamkos with Jake Guentzel has gone about as well as possible so far.

Of course, these aren't the same Lightning that made three consecutive Stanley Cup Finals. This year's edition is extremely top-heavy, with seven players with at least 24 points and only one other player above 10.

They've leaned into that roster construction, leaning heavily on their stars en route to the league's second-best offence (3.88 goals/60). Nikita Kucherov leads the charge as usual, tied with Connor McDavid and two others for 7th in the league with 37 points, while Brayden Point's 18 goals are just behind Leon Draisaitl and Sam Reinhart's 19 for most in the league.

It's not all old faces, however, as they've enjoyed a breakout season from newly-minted Team Canada winger Brandon Hagel, who's built on last season's 75-point campaign with 12 goals and 31 points through 25 games this year. The Morinville, Alberta product is joined by the aforementioned Guentzel, who's once again producing at his usual 40-goal, 80-point pace after signing with Tampa during the offseason.

The Oilers will be lucky to face a slightly diminished version of the Lightning, as they'll be without shutdown centre Anthony Cirelli and bruising defenceman Erik Cernak after both were injured on Sunday against Vancouver. That's especially good news for Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, because Cirelli and Cernak are always Jon Cooper's top options for shutting down the opponent's stars.

The Oilers and Lightning are very similar teams right now. They sit 12th and 13th in the NHL by points percentage, both led by transcendent offensive superweapons and lacking in substance at the bottom of the lineup.

While the Lightning's underwhelming depth and blueline are papered over by Andrei Vasilevskiy in net, the Oilers' excellent defence often covers for their untrustworthy goaltending. With Edmonton's secondary scoring slowly coming alive and Stuart Skinner's recent resurgence, all that's left for the Oilers to do tonight is shut down Kuchrov, Point and co. Famous last words, I know.

The puck drops at 7:00 tonight at Rogers Place.

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