The Northwest Division of old

The hockey gods must have finally turned their attention back to the Northwest Division. Apparently they can’t abide bad teams, not for more than a few months, anyway.

Edmonton’s 3-2 loss Tuesday at home was certainly disappointing – as all home losses are, really – but it looks like the Northwest will be stuck in its usual five-team mold now. And that bodes well for the Oilers, who are at least back into a division race again, as usual.

About two weeks ago, it looked like for the first time in my memory there would be two teams – Edmonton and Minnesota – far from the other three in the Northwest Division. Both the Wild and Oilers were headed on road trips. They were battered by injuries and hadn’t played all that well under their new coaches.

Then they both became road terrors for their hosts, and in a matter of a fortnight the division race was back to a five-team affair. Though Minnesota has played a few division games during its 9-2-1 streak, I’m going to say the Oilers’ mini streak has been more impressive, given its destinations. To go from Detroit to Dallas to Miami to Tampa, all within seven days, and to win all of those contests – including two overtimes and two shootouts – that’s a real slog.

It also should explain Edmonton’s loss to Los Angeles, and it should make my last post about Deslauriers seem foolish and premature. Edmonton just plain looks better, and I suspect it is no coincedence it and Minnesota’s resurgence comes at about the same time. Under Pat Quinn and Todd Richards, respectively, the Oilers and Wild are getting healthy and are playing like they understand the new systems in place.

Now only 10 points separate the division-leading Avalanche from the last-place Oilers, and that’s spotting the Avs three games more than the other four teams. So while Tuesday’s result was a setback for Edmonton, it doesn’t doom the season thanks to the recent road trip, which restored some hope to the season.