You can’t blame the hockey gods for this one.

They tried.

After propping up Edmonton in a pair of wins against Columbus and Philadelphia this week, the gods did everything in their power to bail the Oilers out again in Thursday’s rematch with Blue Jackets.

The Oilers could have been on the wrong end of a Colorado-style beat down, but the Blue Jackets hit SIX goalposts, the second-most by any team in the NHL this year.

But even that wasn’t enough to help Edmonton overcome the glaring, recurring weaknesses that led to a 5-4 defeat.

After Philadelphia’s winning goal with 23 seconds left in the third period got overturned by an offside challenge on Wednesday and a 4-3 deficit got wiped out when the Blue Jackets put one into their own net in the final minute last Monday — Edmonton’s luck finally ran out.

And they were left to accept responsibility for what happened.

Sloppy defensive zone coverage, relying almost entirely on Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl to save the day and not getting the save when they needed it from Calvin Pickard — all of it combined to sink Edmonton’s hopes.

“Just around our net, I thought we were a little too soft,” said head coach Kris Knoblauch, who watched the Blue Jackets score four of their five goals from in close. “Whether they were deflecting pucks or getting inside of us, there were multiple goals like that.

“The game-winning goal was a play like that. Their first goal was a play like that. We have to do a better job of defending that area because it’s so important.”

The winning goal was a microcosm of everything that’s been going wrong. Mathieu Olivier, a third-line tough guy, gets between Darnell Nurse, Jake Walman, Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid (about $40 million worth of players) for an uncontested one-timer to put the Jackets up 5-2 seven minutes into the third period.

“We were giving up too many looks in the slot, making Picks make too many big saves,” said Nurse. “They have a lot of guys who can score when you give them time and space and we gave them too much of it today.”

And maybe the gods have finally seen enough because late in the second period McDavid had a goal taken off the board after an offside challenge.

TEPID START

Four shots on net in the first period is simply not good enough. Neither is their commitment to the defensive details, especially from their top guys.

Despite four goalposts from Columbus in the first period, it was only 1-0 Blue Jackets after 20. The Oilers, despite not really deserving it, were very much alive.

How did they respond? On the very first shift of the second period, Evan Bouchard gives the puck away again, forcing Pickard to make a point-blank save. Five seconds later, McDavid gets too casual deep in his own end, gets stripped of the puck and it’s 2-0 Columbus just 44 seconds in.

That’s the fifth time this season the Oilers allowed a goal in the first minute of a period and the seventh time they’ve been down 0-2.

WAKEY WAKEY

Edmonton had six shots on net through the first 28 minutes, but came to life with two quick goals (Draisaitl and Matt Savoie) midway through the second period to tie it.

Game on.

Alas, when the Blue Jackets pushed back, Edmonton caved and by the end of the second period it was 4-2 Columbus.

Then came the 5-2 back-breaker. Once again, Edmonton’s top guys kept the game within reach, but they couldn’t outscore their mistakes.

“We battled our way and kept it within striking distance but we weren’t able to get the last one,” said Nurse. “For us, as a group, it’s not get enough to just try and get it to overtime.”

EGGS IN ONE BASKET

Connor McDavid logged 24:18 and Leon Draisaitl 24:25 as Knoblauch relied almost entirely on his big guns to win this game.

The stars were all over the offence: The first goal was Savoie from Bouchard and McDavid. The second goal was Draisaitl from Bouchard. And the fourth goal was Draisaitl from Bouchard and McDavid.

Unfortunately, McDavid was also on the ice for three of the five goals against.

That’s not a winning formula at either end of the ice.

Consider that the Blue Jackets didn’t have a forward who played more than 20 minutes, only had one forward who played fewer than 11 and had 10 of their players register at least one point.

WORST GAME EVER

It was the worst game of the year for Andrew Mangiapane, who was minus four in 8:37 of ice time through 40 minutes and played less than three minutes in the third. After scoring two goals in his first two games he has two goals and two assists and is minus 16 in the last 17 games. This, despite getting some of the most premium ice time a winger can ask for.

E-mail: rtychkowski@postmedia.com