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

You have to give what’s left of the Edmonton Oilers a lot of credit.

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This injury situation of theirs could have deteriorated into a colossal tire fire — no team stays afloat without six of its best players — but despite being hammered by misfortune for five-straight weeks they’ve still gone 12-6-1 in that span and won six of their last eight.

Sunday’s 4-1 road decision over the Winnipeg Jets extended Edmonton’s winning streak to three games and kept alive their slim homes of stealing home ice away from the Los Angeles Kings in their first-round series.

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The Oilers host the Kings Monday night in Edmonton and can move into a tie for second place with a win.

Say what you will about how badly this team is beaten up and how grim things are looking heading into the playoffs, it keeps grinding out results.

“Every team needs to go through some adversity during the season, it builds your team up and it brings everyone together,” said head coach Kris Knoblauch.

“This is the most adversity we’ve had, losing the guys we’ve had for the stretch we have, but it’s been good to build our team up together and give guys opportunities to play more minutes than they typically would. You see some guys really excelling with the extra responsibilities.”

Edmonton’s support guys continue holding up their 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) making it 2-1 in the second period Sunday.

Corey Perry added the insurance with his second goal in two games and 18th of the season and Viktor Arvidsson scored into the empty net for his fifth goal in eight games.

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There isn’t much more you can ask from these players.

“It’s guys stepping in and doing the job,” said Henrique. “You have to be able to do that. The good teams just plug guys in and continue to roll. If there is more asked from guys, they step up. If it’s a different role or different position, guys do a great job there as well.”

With a black hole of injuries poised to swallow up this year’s Stanley Cup quest, this is at least something that can provide a little hope.

“It’s huge,” said Brown. “When we have our full lineup we’re such a deep club, with the best two players in the world, so the sense of belief in this group is very high.”

The Oilers went into this one missing six of their top players (Leon Draisaitl, Mattias Ekholm, Zach Hyman, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Trent Frederic and Jake Walman), seven if you count Evander Kane.

But it was still a fair fight because the Jets, playing the second game of a back-to-back after clinching the Central Division Saturday night, gave most of their top-end players the night off

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

But it wasn’t really close. Edmonton outshot Winnipeg 39-18, tightening up on defence, controlling the play and finishing their chances.

“Obviously, they were coming off a back-to-back and didn’t have their full lineup, so take it with a grain of salt,” said Brown. “But a lot of good things tonight.”

With Edmonton’s playoff goaltending situation still up in the air, all eyes were on Stuart Skinner in his first start since being knocked from the lineup with a head/neck injury nine games ago against Dallas.

There wasn’t a lot of evidence on that front, though, because Edmonton had the puck most of the night, but at least he made it through the game without being re-injured, which is more than can be said for many of the injured Oilers.

Beyond that, he did exactly what was needed from him — keep the Jets from gaining any measure of momentum.

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“We defended really well in front of him,” said Knoblauch. “The goal he let in he had absolutely no chance on and for the rest of the night, he kept everything out. I was very happy with his performance.”

Whatever happens to the Oilers down the stretch and in the first round remains to be seen — it’s hard to tell which of the injured players will be ready and which won’t — but Edmonton’s supporting cast is showing remarkably well in getting this team to the finish line.

“Everyone knows about our injury problems and guys not being in the lineup,” said Knoblauch. “We’re needing guys to step up and tonight I thought everyone played a really solid game, whether it was our first or fourth line, all six defence and Stu had a solid game. It was nice to see.”

Connor McDavid had two assists to give him eight points in three games since coming back from his injury and 99 points on the season.

E-mail: rtychkowski@postmedia.com

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