The Edmonton Oilers are off to a start that last season took them until late January to find.
With Wednesday’s 5-2 comeback win over the Anaheim Ducks, Edmonton moved to 3-0-1 under first-year head coach Mike Babcock and stacked three straight victories after opening the 2026-27 season with a wild 9-7 win over the Vancouver Canucks, then a 3-1 result against the Seattle Kraken. For a team that spent much of 2025-26 looking inconsistent, that alone is a meaningful shift.
The contrast with last year is hard to miss. Edmonton didn’t put together its first three-game winning streak until 56 games into the season, finally doing it in a 4-3 overtime win over the San Jose Sharks on January 29.
This time, the Oilers got there in four games. Small sample, sure.
But the early return is exactly what Babcock came in to change.
His arrival in June was supposed to bring more structure and more responsibility to a team that leaned too heavily on scoring its way out of trouble. The first two games showed how messy that transition can be. Edmonton gave up 13 goals across those matchups with Vancouver, including seven in the victory, and the cracks were obvious: turnovers, breakdowns in the defensive zone and missed assignments.
Babcock didn’t hide from it after the win, stressing the need to execute the system all the time, not just in flashes. The response against Seattle was a step in the right direction. The Oilers held the Kraken to one goal and won without needing to turn the game into a track meet.
Against Anaheim, they showed something else Babcock wants: the ability to absorb a punch and answer back. Edmonton fell behind 2-0, then ripped off five unanswered second-period goals.
That kind of recovery matters. It suggests the group is starting to respond instead of letting one mistake turn into a spiral.
Devon Levi has been part of that stabilizing effect in net. Goaltending was a real question coming in, especially after Tristan Jarry gave up six goals in Edmonton’s opening loss.
Levi wasn’t sharp in his first outing either, allowing seven goals against Vancouver. But the trend has moved in the right direction since then.
He was solid against Seattle and then turned in a strong performance against Anaheim, stopping 29 of 31 shots to earn his third straight win. His biggest work came early, when the Ducks outshot Edmonton 16-6 in the opening period. Levi kept the game from getting away, and that gave the Oilers time to settle in.
Edmonton doesn’t need perfection in goal every night. It needs timely saves and steadiness. Levi is starting to supply both.
The defense is improving too, even if it’s still very much a work in progress. After giving up 13 goals in the first two games, the Oilers allowed only three over the next two. Against Seattle, they held the Kraken to five high-danger scoring chances, a sharp drop from the 12 they surrendered against Vancouver in the previous game.
Babcock’s emphasis on pressure, positioning and cleaner puck management seems to be taking hold in spots. Evan Bouchard has been a major offensive force as well, piling up 11 points in four games, including six goals. His production from the blue line has been a big part of why Edmonton can keep winning while the rest of the system settles in.
Still, nobody around this team is pretending the job is finished. The Oilers have shown real progress, but they’ve also shown how much room there is to grow. What matters now is whether they can keep the defensive structure intact without dulling the offense that still gives them their edge.
For now, though, the early results are exactly what Edmonton needed. Three wins in a row is more than a hot start. For this team, it’s a sign that Babcock’s message is landing.
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Former Ducks Defenseman's Death Hits One NHL Family Hard
A difficult week in the NHL touched the Ducks old blue line when news broke that a former Mighty Ducks of Anaheim defenseman, Myles OConnor, had died. The announcement came through the Colorado Avalanche, where his son, Logan OConnor, is a player, and it immediately carried a personal weight beyond the league standings or any game story.
Logan OConnor stepped away from the Avalanche to be with his family after the loss, underscoring how closely the NHL still feels at times despite all the travel and distance. The team did not disclose the cause of death, leaving the focus on the familys private grief and on a hockey connection that stretches from Anaheims early years to Colorados present-day roster. [Read more 🡒]