5 THINGS: It's the day after the night before for the Edmonton Oilers

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Well, that wasn’t supposed to happen. Not like that, anyway.

Sure, the Edmonton Oilers might not have been expected to go into American Airlines Center and knock off the Western Conference top-dog Dallas Stars. But to lose like that, a 5-0 shutout where anything that could go wrong did? And at this point in the season?

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Cause for concern? Maybe. But not necessarily. Every team is allowed one bad night. But it’s certainly nothing to celebrate, not with the Oilers going into that one under the premise of using it as a measuring stick to gauge where they stack up against one of the best out there.

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GONE STREAKING

With just eight games left on the schedule, there will be no nine wins in a row to wrap up the regular season like the Oilers did a year ago when they hit playoffs with all the momentum in the world.

No, the Oilers did all their streaking earlier in the season, putting together a run of eight wins in a row in November and December before doubling that over December and January to wind up one win shy of the NHL record in that department.

Unfortunately for them, the Oilers appeared to have hit their streaky peak prior to the all-star break, which ended up interrupting it all, as they came out of the pause with a 3-1 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights, who, of course, also spoiled their playoff run last year.

And the two teams appear bound for a rematch in the opening round this time.

HOME SWEET

When it rains, it shut(out) storms …

The Oilers salvaged a single point out of their latest road trip, falling 3-2 in overtime to the St. Louis Blues before hitting a brick wall in downtown Dallas.

At least this journey was mercifully short. Edmonton hasn’t been very good on the road lately, not in comparison to the performances at home, anyway, where they’ve picked up points in their last nine games and won eight of them.

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Their last loss on home ice came 3-2 in overtime March 16 against the same Colorado Avalanche who are here Friday (7 p.m., Sportsnet). This time around, the Oilers are catching their opponent on the end of back-to-back road games with the Avalanche flying in from Minnesota on Thursday.

ROAD KILL

Away from the friendly confines of Rogers Place, it’s been an entirely other story altogether.

The Oilers have just one win in regulation to show for their past nine away games and are on a current run of 2-4-2 over their past eight.

While it’s still six of a possible 16 points, it’s a dangerous trend to emerge heading into an elimination series. One made worse if home-ice advantage isn’t on your side.

‘A’ FOR EFFORT?

It goes without saying a team needs everyone rowing in the same direction heading down the playoff stretch. And that includes the captaincy.

However, on Wednesday a couple Oilers alternate captains looked like they didn’t even know which end was up while trying to navigate the Stars.

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Leon Draisaitl turned the puck over for Dallas’s opening goal, then Darnell Nurse left the Oilers with five defencemen for 12 minutes with a 10-minute misconduct for complaining about an interference minor.

Nurse then allowed a pass from Miro Heiskanen to Tyler Seguin for the 2-0 power-play goal.

In the second, Nurse got caught on an ugly pinch that resulted in a four-on-one the other way to make it 3-0, before Draisaitl served up another turnover right into Edmonton’s slot and Jamie Benn, who was all alone, put Dallas ahead 4-0.

MAKING A MCPUSH

While it’s far from the biggest concern on the team right now, getting shut out Wednesday did nothing for Connor McDavid’s bid to win the NHL scoring race or to become the first NHL player in 33 years to record 100 assists.

The Oilers captain sat idle Thursday while both the Avalanche’s Nathan MacKinnon, ahead of him in second, and Nikita Kucherov of the Tampa Bay Lightning, in first, were both on the ice again.

But with eight more games still ahead of him, including two head-to-head against MacKinnon, if anyone can make a push for the finish line, it’s McDavid, who worked his way back into the conversation despite sitting tied for 107th in league scoring back when the Oilers made a coaching change in mid-November.

E-mail: gmoddejonge@postmedia.com

On Twitter: @GerryModdejonge

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