Edmonton Oilers: 5 factors behind fast start to the season

2. Special teams

Last season, the Oilers were actually pretty decent when it came to the power play, ranking ninth in the league with a 21.2 percent success rate. However, they’ve taken it to another level so far in 2019-20, leading the NHL at 41.7 percent.

Of course, we have to remind ourselves it’s still early in the season; no one would expect Edmonton to keep up such an eye-popping level of success. Regardless, the signs are extremely encouraging at this stage of the proceedings.

Talking of which, let’s also look at how the Oilers are performing when they are short-handed. Following Friday night’s slate of games they are sixth-best in the NHL, at 88.9 percent.

Now contrast this to last season, when Edmonton had the second-worst penalty kill unit in the league, at 74.8 percent. Even if they don’t sustain their current level of effectiveness, they’re going to finish in a much healthier position.