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Arizona Coyotes run point streak against Edmonton Oilers to 25 games

Josh Cooper
EDMONTON, AB - NOVEMBER 27: Jamie McGinn #88 and Luke Schenn #2 of the Arizona Coyotes celebrate after a goal during the game against the Edmonton Oilers on November 27, 2016 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. (Photo by Andy Devlin/NHLI via Getty Images)
Jamie McGinn and Luke Schenn of the Arizona Coyotes celebrate after a goal during the game against the Edmonton Oilers on November 27, 2016 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. (Getty Images)

The Arizona Coyotes have made picking up points against the Edmonton Oilers quite a habit.

With their Sunday 2-1 win, the Coyotes have now notched at least one point in 25 straight games against the Oilers, which ranks amongst the longest such streaks in NHL history.

Arizona tied the Montreal Canadiens’ 25-game stretch over the Chicago Blackhawks from 1942-45 and the Philadelphia Flyers streak over the Washington Capitals from 1974-80.

The Coyotes’ streak against Edmonton goes back to Jan. 25, 2011 when then Oilers goaltender Devan Dubnyk stopped 24 of 27 shots on goal against the then Phoenix Coyotes in a 4-3 win. Dustin Penner scored the game-winner with 21 seconds left in regulation.

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Since then, Arizona has gone 21-0-4 against Edmonton.

“I can’t, I just can’t (explain it),” said Coyotes goaltender Mike Smith. “It’s a team that we have had some success against, but I feel it is a little bit different of a team now than the one we have had so much success against in the past. It was definitely a challenging win for us.”

On Sunday, Coyotes forward Radim Vrbata scored first at the 16:10 mark of the first period to put Arizona up 1-0. They held the Oilers off the scoreboard through two periods before Connor McDavid found Milan Lucic for a goal midway through the third period to tie the game at 1-1.

Coyotes forward Jamie McGinn scored the game-winner at the 16:16 mark of the third.

In the timeframe of the streak the Oilers have struggled, picking up 74 points-or-fewer each full season. But in recent years, the Coyotes have also had their fair share of issues. They’ve missed the playoffs four years in a row and finished with the second-worst record in the NHL in 2014-15 with 56 points.

Currently Edmonton leads the Pacific Division with a 12-9-2 record, while the Coyotes are last in the Western Conference at 8-10-2. The Oilers’ loss against Arizona was the second in consecutive games between the two teams.

Edmonton will have a chance to end the streak at the Coyotes on Dec. 21.

Arizona still has a ways to go to top the NHL record. The Canadiens hold the longest point streak against one team in NHL history at 34 games against the Washington Capitals from 1974-79. They also had a 30-game point streak over the Vancouver Canucks from 1970-76. The Flyers held a 32-game point streak over the Los Angeles Kings from 1974-83 and the Bruins had a 27-game streak against the Flyers from 1969-74 and a 26-game streak against the Caps from 1974-79.

“These are the games we have to win if we’re going to make the playoffs. We have to be 100 percent in games like these,” Oilers defenseman Oscar Klefbom said. “We play good against the better teams, I think, but Arizona is a team we have to beat if we’re going to the playoffs. We have to find a way to crack the code.”

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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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