Give what’s left of the Edmonton Oilers credit, they’re fighting hard

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You have to give the Edmonton Oilers a lot of things left.

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Their injury situation could deteriorate into a huge tire fire – without the six best players without the team to make ends meet – but despite being unfortunately beaten for five seconds, they still beat 12-6-1 in that leap and won the final eight games.

Sunday’s 4-1 road decision against the Winnipeg Jets extended Edmonton’s winning streak to three games and allowed them to steal the slim home of the Los Angeles Kings in the first round series.

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The Oilers host the Kings in Edmonton on Monday night to win second place.

Tell me the severity of the team being beaten and the situation with the grim things that are going into the playoffs, and it keeps wearing out the results.

“Every team needs to go through some adversity throughout the season, which will build your team and bring everyone together,” said head coach Kris Knoblauch.

“It’s the most adversity we have, losing the people we have, but it’s better to build our team together and give people more time than usual opportunities.

Edmonton supporters continued to stick with the end of the bargain, with Connor Brown scoring his fourth goal in three games and Adam Henrique (two goals and three assists in his last four games) 2-1 in the second phase of Sunday.

Corey Perry scored his second goal in two games and 18 of the season, with Viktor Arvidsson scoring his fifth goal in eight games.

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You don’t have more to ask from these players.

“It’s guys step in and do the job,” Henrique said. “You have to be able to do that. A good team just plug in and keep scrolling. If there are more people asking, they step up. If it’s a different role or a different position, then the people there are doing a great job there, too.”

There is a black hole that has the potential to swallow this year’s Stanley Cup mission, which at least offers something to hope for.

“It’s big,” Brown said. “When we had a full roster, we were such a deep club with two of the best players in the world, so we had a very high sense of faith in this group.”

The Oilers entered the missing top players (Leon Draisaitl, Mattias Ekholm, Zach Hyman, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Trent Frederic and Jake Walman), and if you figure out Evander Kane, seven.

But it’s still a fair fight, as the Jets played their second game after the Central Division ended after Saturday night’s championship, leaving most of their high-end players on a break night

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They sat at Connor Hellebuyck, Adam Lowry, Josh Morrissey, Luke Schenn and Neal Pionk, while Gabe Vilardi and Nik Ehlers missed the game due to injuries.

But this is not very close. Edmonton beat Winnipeg 39-18 to strengthen defense, control the game and end the chance.

“Obviously, they stood out back to back, didn’t have the whole lineup, so they took it away with a grain of salt,” Brown said. “But a lot of good things tonight.”

With Edmonton’s playoff goal innings still in the air, everyone’s eyes were focused on the first game of Stuart Skinner, who has been beaten up the roster since nine head/neck injuries against Dallas.

There is not much evidence in this regard, though, as Edmonton has been on hockey most of the time, but at least he has been successful in the game without being re-created, which is much more than that for many injured oilers.

Apart from that, he did do what he needed – to prevent the jets from gaining any momentum.

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“Our defense before him was very good,” Nobrach said. “The goal he lets him in is absolutely no chance, and he kept everything in the night. I’m very happy with his performance.”

Whatever happened to the Oiler extends into the first round, remains to be seen – it’s hard to tell which injured player will be ready and which won’t – but the Edmonton support cast has performed very well, very well in getting this team to the finish line.

“Everyone knows about our injury problem and the man is not in the roster,” Nobrach said. “We need guys to step up and tonight I think everyone has played a really solid game, both on the front line and on the fourth line, all six defenses and Stu have been great. It’s great to see.”

Connor McDavid has two assists, giving him eight points in three games since he returned from injury, and 99 points this season.

Email: rtychkowski@postmedia.com

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