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In a year when everything that can go wrong is going worse, it should come as no surprise that the Edmonton Oilers deserved better last night.
First came the slap in the face, when Dany Heatley rolled into town in a San Jose Sharks sweater.
Then came the punch in the gut, when doctors told Ales Hemsky he'll need season-ending shoulder surgery.
All the Oilers needed for the hard-luck hat-trick was a humiliating loss to Heatley and his new teal-clad buddies, and almost everyone in the place feared it was coming.
It didn't.
There have been a lot of nights this year when the Oilers needed to battle and seemed to fold instead. But this was one where they were expected to fold and truly battled hard against one of the best teams in the NHL.
They even had it won after Dustin Penner popped a goal and an assist 2:02 apart early in the third period and Ryan Potulny made it 4-3 at 14:57.
Finally, some silver lining on a day-long dark cloud.
But, alas, this is 2009-10, where nothing comes easy. And Black Friday was no different.
"We were right there with one of the best teams in the league ... tough one to lose," said Potulny, who scored the first and last goals in the heartbreaking 5-4 shootout loss.
"You try to take the good out of the game, but you can never be happy about losing. We had it. We had it."
You would have thought so, up 4-3 and on the power play in the final two minuutes, but Patrick Marleau scored -- shorthanded! -- at 18:35 to send it to overtime and the shootout, where Joe Pavelski's goal gave San Jose the comeback win.
"We were fighting hard, battling all over the ice," said Gilbert Brule, praising the effort and cursing the result. "Everyone played a pretty solid game. We shouldn't have lost."
The sold-out crowd was nothing if not predictable in responding to Heatley's visit. They booed him at every turn, stopping only to cheer when Sheldon Souray put some lumber in his back in the first and Steve Staios got away with a forearm shiver in the second.
But it was Heatley who found the scoresheet first, picking up the second assist on Marleau's first of three on the night five minutes in.
All in all, though, a 1-0 deficit after 20 minutes wasn't that bad. And it got better in the second when Potulny tied it on a breakaway at 11:03.
When the Oilers went up 3-1 in the third (Penner from Brule at 2:07 and Brule from Penner at 4:09), the place went nuts,
A win, and a fairy tale finish?
Didn't happen.
Marleau at 5:55 and Ryan Clowe at 8:28 tied it up.
Potulny's second of the night appeared to win it, but, once again, this is 2009-10, and Marleau's shorty spoiled the party.
"It's tough because we played well, lines one through four and the defence," said Penner. "It stings. But we did a lot of good things we can focus on."
Like Potulny, who's been here for all of 10 games and (with Hemsky out) is tied for third in goals with five.
"We have guys in the system who can come in and step up and who are only going to get better in each game hereafter," said Penner. "As much as it's going to depend on the first two lines and the veterans, we need those guys to step up and help us."
ROBERT.TCHKOWSKI@SUNMEDIA.CA