Taylor Hall scored his 15th goal of the season and Devan Dubnyk made 27 saves in the loss.

As a result, the Oilers have been mathematically eliminated from post-season contention.

"We knew we were out of the playoffs before tonight," said a disappointed Hall post-game. "We made it really tough on ourselves losing three straight games on the (four-game) road trip. To have another season out of the playoffs, to have another season where we're playing meaningless games at the end of the year, is very frustrating and something we're not proud of."

"We knew it was going to take a lot at this point to get in," added Jeff Petry, who recorded an assist in 15:47 of ice time. "The schedule is 48 games this year and we can't letbeing eliminated from the playoffs affect the way we approach the next few games.

"We owe it to each other and the coaching staff in here."

Hall and the Oilers wasted little time getting on the board. Exactly one minute into the game, No. 4 accepted an outlet pass from Jordan Eberle, raced down the far side on a 2-on-1 with Sam Gagner and wristed a shot past Jonas Hiller for the icebreaker.

With the goal Hall bumped his season total to 45 points, guaranteeing a point-per-game pace by season's end. He's the first Oiler to achieve that since Doug Weight did it in 2000-01 when the former captain recorded 90 points in 82 games.

The Oilers had a chance to extend their lead at 6:53 when Daniel Winnik was assessed a