The race for top spot in the Pacific Division race is intensifying, with the Anaheim Ducks and Oilers Oilers battling it out for first place. Which team will seize control and avoid a potential first-round showdown against the Vegas Golden Knights?
As we hit the home stretch of the NHL’s 2025-26 regular season, the Anaheim Ducks and Edmonton Oilers are jostling for first place in the Pacific Division.
The two teams are currently tied with 87 points apiece, but the Oilers own the tiebreaker. And besides bragging rights, there’s something else very much at stake – a potential first-round Stanley Cup playoff showdown with the Vegas Golden Knights for the team that fails to win top spot in the division.
The Golden Knights sit in third place in the Pacific, and following their 5-1 thrashing over the Oilers last night, they now sit one point back of first place in the Pacific Division.
But if the Golden Knights remain in third place, the team that wins the Pacific is almost assuredly going to square off against the team in the first wild card spot – the Utah Mammoth. So it’s easy to see why the Oilers and Ducks will dearly want to avoid the Knights and take on Utah instead.
Although the Golden Knights’ season has seen them fire coach Bruce Cassidy and endure plenty of ups and downs, they remain an experienced NHL team with the structure and talent to beat any team on any given night.
Jack Eichel, Mark Stone, Mitch Marner, and Shea Theodore are game-breaking talents who can take over a series on their own.
According to Tankathon, the Ducks have the third-easiest remaining schedule, with just one game against a playoff team: the Minnesota Wild. Anaheim’s remaining five games will be against relatively easy opponents: the Vancouver Canucks, San Jose Sharks, and the Nashville Predators, twice. That said, the Sharks and Predators are also fighting to get into the post-season, so the Ducks are going to have to be at their best to stay at or near the top of the Pacific.
Meanwhile, the Oilers have the eighth-easiest remaining schedule. They have one game against the powerhouse Colorado Avalanche, as well as tilts against the Mammoth, Sharks, Canucks, and the Los Angeles Kings.
Edmonton had been on a roll of late, with five straight wins prior to Saturday’s loss. The five wins include victories over Vegas, Utah, Anaheim, the Chicago Blackhawks and Seattle Kraken.
Anaheim, on the other hand, has been cold of late, losing five in a row, including defeats at the hands of the Oilers, Flames, Sharks, Toronto Maple Leafs and St. Louis Blues.
Thus, there’s an obvious turnaround that has to happen immediately for the Ducks – because if they lose their remaining games, they not only could lose first place in the Pacific, but they could slide down to third in the division and lose home-ice advantage.
Anaheim has been a Jekyll-and-Hyde team at home and on the road this year, posting a strong 23-12-3 home record and a poor 18-19-2 road mark. The Oilers are also considerably better at home than on the road, with a 21-14-4 home record and an 18-15-5 road record.
Connor McDavid and Jacob Trouba (Perry Nelson-Imagn Images)It’s going to be compelling viewing watching the Ducks and Oilers fight it out for the Pacific’s top spot. Both teams are at different points in their competitive cycles, with Anaheim just scratching the surface with its young core of talent, and Edmonton desperately trying to win a Cup in the Connor McDavid/Leon Draisaitl era.
If one of them does wind up losing to Vegas in the first round, their results in the final week-and-a-half of the season could be what sinks their playoff aspirations.
The stakes couldn’t be much higher for the Oilers and Ducks. And the pressure is only going to get higher for both of them from here.
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