It’s sewn right there on the back of his Edmonton Oilers pullover as his team prepares to host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday night (7 p.m., Sportsnet) in an attempt to push their club record to 14 games in a row.
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However, they still have a few games left to go before they can match the Blue Jackets’ franchise-record 16-game winning run, which is ranked second all-time in the NHL, only behind the 17-game string set by the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1992–1993.
Given that he had a significant role in the season, Gagner recalls the 2016–17 Columbus run well.
That was actually the one and only year in his illustrious career that the long-time on-again, off-again Oilers forward reached the 50-point mark.
And he accomplished this while anchoring the fourth line and solidifying his spot on the starting power play unit—all this after being traded by the Arizona Coyotes, who, you may remember, thought he was incapable of playing center in the NHL.
“I was primarily fourth line and first power play in Columbus, which is, I guess, pretty unique,” Gagner remarked. Gagner would go on to surpass his rookie season high of 18 goals and 32 assists.
As the Oilers extend their winning streak towards league records, he is witnessing the same thing.
“It seems to be somewhat comparable. A lot of things have to go right and a lot of guys have to be pulling at the rope when you go on a run like this, according to Gagner. And if you look at our squad, I believe you’ll see that our goalies have been excellent in all of the games that our goalies have won. Then there are the games that we win with penalty kill and power play. We’ve had depth advance and various guys stand up as a result. Naturally, our best guys have also been outstanding throughout it all.
You therefore need a lot of items to go
“You’re happy for the guys, but you also want to be a part of it,” Gagner, who has five goals and five helpers in 20 games, said. Being a part of a winning team is the goal of playing hockey. Try your hand at it. The way the gang was playing and finding strategies to win made me very delighted.
“You just want to help that in any way you can now that I’m back in.”
As far removed as it gets from the franchise-worst 2-9-1 start the Oilers tripped out of the gates this year is stringing together a franchise-best win streak.
The fact that they got up is crucial, according to Gagner.
“This year has been difficult for us,
