Oilers better off settling for second or pushing pedal to metal?

This can work out one of two ways.

Either the Edmonton Oilers simply play out the string and save up as many resources as possible for what they hope will be a long and prosperous playoff push, or they go all out over these final 19 games of the regular season and try to overtake the Vancouver Canucks for first place in both the Pacific Division and the entire Western Conference.

That might be a lot to ask, at this point, considering the Canucks (42-17-7) are enjoying a 12-point cushion with three other teams standing between them and the Oilers (38-21-3), who sit second in the Pacific entering play Wednesday.

At the same time, the Oilers might be better served focusing solely on improving upon a four-point lead on the Los Angeles Kings in third place, and accepting their lot in life here in the 2023-24 season schedule, while remaining as rested and healthy as possible for when games begin to matter most.

“I don’t think we’re talking about finishing first or second or third, but just winning as many games as possible,” said Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch. “There’s so many things out of our control. We don’t know what Vancouver’s going to do, we don’t know how they’re going to finish the season, how many wins they’re going to have, but we have a pretty good idea of how many games we can win.

“And if we win as many as we think we can, it gives us an opportunity that possibly that’s an opportunity for us. But I think right now, we’re focused on how we’re going to play better hockey, win more games and if things happen to fall then we have that opportunity, but I don’t think it’s something we’re talking about right now.”

Either way, they’ve come a long way since a 2-9-1 start to the season that had them sitting 30th in a 32-team league.

And it was a 5-0 shutout over the Washington Capitals back on Nov. 24 that kicked off an eight-game win streak out of nowhere and got things pointed back in the right direction for an Oilers squad that had come into the season riding nothing but great expectations.

“If I was to point at a certain date on the calendar when things started to turn, I would say it was that game,” said captain Connor Mcdavid, whose Oilers faced the Capitals for the first time since on Wednesday (8 p.m., Sportsnet). “Just the feeling in the room, it was almost like, ‘What do we have to lose? Let’s just go play.’

“And put together a good one there and were able to string a few in a row and kind of get ourselves back in the mix. It was good.”

Either way, they’ve come a long way since a 2-9-1 start to the season that had them sitting 30th in a 32-team league.