Over a quarter of the way through a season that hasn’t gone at all according to plan, the Edmonton Oilers are a lot like outer space — a cold mystery that everyone searches for signs of life.

We haven’t seen any from a team whose longest winning streak of the season is two in a row, which has only happened three times in 24 games.

But, people are starting to think there might have been some sightings.

In taking three of four points from the final two stops on a gruelling seven-game trip, did we just witness a flash of something real in the Orange Galaxy?

As Pink Floyd so famously asked: Is there anybody out there?

What we know for sure is that this makes two games in a row in which the Oilers showed some of that long lost urgency and tenacity. Two in a row where they tightened up the defence, got key saves when they broke down and looked like they are finally ready to push back on a season that is showing them no mercy.

“There are always things we can improve on,” head coach Kris Knoblauch said after wrapping up a 3-3-1 trip. “But, first and foremost, is how well you play defence, how you compete for pucks.

“In the last few games I’ve seen a lot more of us coming up with those pucks and second efforts.”

There is no question those were understaffed opponents the Oilers faced in Tampa Bay (the Lightning were missing their top three defencemen) and Florida (the Panthers were missing Aleksander Barkov, Matthew Tkachuk, Aaron Ekblad, Eetu Luostarinen and Dmitry Kulikov). So it’s fair to put an asterisk next to those results — holding the Lightning to zero goals for 58 minutes of a 2-1 overtime loss and beating Florida 6-3.

But Edmonton had some injuries of its own (Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Jake Walman and Kasperi Kapanen) and were running on fumes. You could still see a bit of that spark, though.

“We had some really good discussions as a group and were able to come together, especially after some tough losses, and just find our rhythm and find our play,” goalie Stuart Skinner said. “That’s starting to happen. It’s our job as a group to keep that going.”

Make no mistake, there are some real reasons for the malaise the Oilers are trying to escape. The schedule so far (eight home games and 16 road games), and the most recent trip in particular (seven games in 11 nights) would leave any team weakened.

So, sitting 10-9-5 isn’t terrible, it only seems like it given the expectations.

And now they get one game in six days and play six of their next seven at home, where they are 5-1-2. It’s a chance to catch their breath, show everyone that the life we’ve seen in the last two games is the start of something.

“We’ll have more guys back with Nugent-Hopkins and Kapanen, which will get our team looking more like it should,” Knoblauch said. “I believe we’re starting to round it out and play like we can. The schedule made it a little more difficult because of the amount of travel, but at this point of the year you better find your identity soon.”

We’ll get a better look at that identity soon enough because their next opponent is going to be another true measuring stick of who and where the Oilers are. The Dallas Stars are 13-5-4 on the season, 7-2-1 in their past 10 and 7-1-3 on the road.

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Yes, the Oilers will catch yet another lineup break now that Stars’ leading scorer Mikko Rantanen, who is fast becoming one of the dirtier players in the NHL, will be suspended for Tuesday’s game after back-to-back game misconducts for dangerous hits from behind.

But it will be a highly motivated Dallas team given that it’s long-time Oilers assistant coach Glen Gulutzan’s first trip back to Edmonton since taking the Stars coaching job.

Will we see those same signs of life from the Oilers that we saw in those two games in Tampa Bay and Florida? Or is putting together more than two solid games in a row still too much to ask?

There are reasons for optimism, but which Oilers team comes out of that tunnel Tuesday evening still is anyone’s guess.

E-mail: rtychkowski@postmedia.com