Poor road swing hurts playoff hopes

A road trip that represented Edmonton's last chance to even pretend it still had hope for a playoff spot ended with a victory, but it was too little and too late.

Beating the Ottawa Senators 5-4 in overtime was good for morale, but the fact that it came on the heels of road losses in Toronto and Detroit strips away much of the luster.

Having gone 4-0-1 in their last five heading into the trip, the Oilers, though still 11 points out of a playoff spot, were telling themselves that a continuation of the run might get them back in the chase. But opening the trip with back-to-back losses eliminated the last of the hope.

Making up 12 points and leap-frogging six teams in the last 28 games is all but impossible.

The epitaph on their 2011-12 gravestone will simply be their home record. The Oilers, who next host Toronto on Wednesday, are a pretty decent 15-8-3 at home, but have a fatal road record -- 7-20-2.

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