NHL: Oilers rightly optimistic of chances at playoff spot [Video]

Hockey fans know the adage: U.S. Thanksgiving, while unofficial, serves as a great calendar marker in predicting which teams will make the National Hockey League playoffs.

The date on the calendar is roughly the quarter-pole of the NHL regular season, and since 2005-06 – the first season after the one lost to a lockout – of the 256 teams in a playoff position at the American national holiday, 197 went on to advance to the post-season (not including the COVID-affected 2019-20 and 2020-21 campaigns.)

That’s 76.9 per cent of them, a great indicator.

If you’re an Edmonton Oilers fan, that’s bad news. Kind of.

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The Oilers, who start a three-game road-trip Friday in Utah, sit one point out of a wild-card playoff spot on Thursday. That won’t change by Friday morning as there are no NHL games scheduled the day before, very likely because the National Football League’s …