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Can it get worse than last?
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ST. PAUL, Minn. -- You'd think they'd be immune to the torment by now.
But they're not. Losing, no matter how often it happens or how easy it looks, hurts as bad in March as it does in October.
And with 12 more games to go before the Oilers can finally put this season to sleep, there's still an awfully long string to play out.
"It's frustrating not playing for anything, besides each other and the two goalies, trying to get Dubie (Devan Dubnyk, 0-8-2) a win," said defenceman Tom Gilbert. "The effort is there -- we want to win so bad, it gets frustrating after a while when you play well and this is the outcome."
It's rare that teams look forward to the end of their season, but that's pretty close to where these guys are at.
"This year hasn't been fun for anybody," said Sam Gagner. "It beats up on you mentally. We have to try and get some positive life in here where we're playing with some intensity and urgency, but we're playing to make plays and playing relaxed."
Because they don't know if they can take 12 more nights like this one.
"You think, how can you go worse than 30th," said Gagner. "But it can definitely get worse."
Late hits ...
Jordan Eberle begins his professional career this week in Springfield. The first round draft pick has been assigned to the Springfield Falcons for the second spring in a row. He had nine points in nine games in the AHL last year.
