Will it be ready, set, streak for Edmonton Oilers, like one year ago?

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Three.

Two.

One.

Blast off.

It was this exact time one year ago, the fourth Friday in November, when the Edmonton Oilers flipped the switch to put a slow start to the season in their rearview mirror and begin blazing a path that led all the way to Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Final.

A 5-0 blanking of the Washington Capitals, in their own barn, no less, not only ended a three-game skid for the Oilers, but set them on course straight into the playoff picture. Edmonton springboarded that win into eight straight.

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That streak would end with another three-game skid, before the Oilers doubled down to string together a run of 16 consecutive victories, which fell one shy of a league record.

Talk about a turnaround.

And it all started right here, right now.

“I think there’s a lot to learn from past experience, obviously,” said Oilers forward Connor Brown. “But it’s a different group in here, too, different personnel. So, there’s a lot to learn, but I think more than anything it’s just a feeling.

“Once we get rolling, I know that. And I think we even proved it this year, when we’re playing well, we’re top-tier. So, it’s just about us and playing our best game.”

One-quarter into the season, however, and it could be argued the Oilers still haven’t shown their best. For every convincing 7-3 win over the Vancouver Canucks, like two weeks ago, there has been a 3-0 shutout at the hands of the Montreal Canadiens, like earlier this week.

If there is such a thing as quality of wins, then consider the Oilers — who sit 15th out of 32 teams heading into Saturday’s game against the visiting New York Rangers (8 p.m., CBC, Sportsnet) — have only beaten one team that is currently ahead of them in the standings.

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The Oilers have defeated the Philadelphia Flyers (25th), the Pittsburgh Penguins (26th), the Detroit Red Wings (24th), the aforementioned Canucks (16th), as well as the New York Islanders (20th) and the Ottawa Senators (27th).

Oh, and don’t forget 30 per cent of their 10 wins have come while sweeping the three-game season series against the last-place Nashville Predators (32nd).

The only time the Oilers have defeated an opponent who currently has a better record than them was Nov. 3, in a 4-2 win over the Calgary Flames. But not before already having lost 4-1 to their provincial rivals earlier in the year. So, call it a wash.

So much for the Oilers being top tier. More like mired in mediocrity.

“I think it’s important for us in here, at least, to just be even-keeled about it and focus on the actual tangible things that we can improve on, not get inflated and deflated with every game, and just kind of continue to improve,” Brown said of going 10-9-2 through the first quarter.

“The record’s not bad, but we’ve got a high standard in here. So, maybe if you compare it to where our standard is and what we expect of ourselves, that’s not up to par.”

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Not even close, in fact. Not for being one of the last two teams standing when the playoff dust settled in June.

Where they should be is on a path for redemption after finishing on the wrong side of the one goal that determined who would hoist Lord Stanley’s namesake, and who had to take the longest — and potentially quietest — flight home in Stanley Cup Finals history.

All 4,089 kilometres of it.

But instead of coming into this season with a vengeance and flying up the standings to book a return trip to Round 4, the Oilers puttered, sputtered and spun their tires out of the gates, falling behind 0-3 before being mired around the .500 mark through the first 21 games.

And well short of expectations, once again, giving head coach Kris Knoblauch a little taste of what his predecessor, Jay Woodcroft, was going through before being fired after the Oilers started out last season 3-9-1.

So, if ever there was a time the second-year head coach could channel his former rookie self and help kickstart these Oilers once again, there is no better time like the present.

“I was here for three, maybe four weeks and then everything started falling into place,” Knoblauch recalled. “I’m not saying it fell into place because I came in here, it was just a matter of time before the penalty kill turned itself around, goaltending played much better, our defence. It was just a lot of little things.

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“As coaches, we’re not, ‘Oh, we have to change this,’ and, ‘We have to have a new system.’ It’s ultimately just getting a little bit better in all areas of the game. And it’s so competitive in the NHL. You have your worst team in the NHL to your top NHL team, and any night the bottom team can beat the best team because it’s tight.

“And you’re looking for every little advantage. How do you line change? Are your guys coming off at the appropriate times? And how are you changing, is it three guys coming off instead of just one or two? And the shots they are giving up, are they on the perimeter? Are they from the slot? And how many odd-man rushes are you giving up?

“There’s a lot of things, and because of that competition you’re always trying to find advantages in every little thing. And we’re just trying to get better at every little thing. Goal scoring is one of them, our special teams, goaltender save percentage. There’s a lot of work cut out for the coaching staff and we’re just trying to get better in all those areas.”

Now, if they can just do all that eight, and then 16 times in a row again, all should be well.

E-mail: [email protected]

On Twitter: @GerryModdejonge

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